Attack on Hogwarts
by Snking-Feeling
Summary: Hogwarts AU filled with all of the SNK crew you know and love and more. Follow the journey of different characters as they all come together at Hogwarts to create an experience you will never forget. Watch them as they grow as wizards and witches through the friendships they make, the laughs, the love shared, the fights, and the tears.
1. Chapter 1

Hogwarts, Here We Come

An eleven year old boy paced back and forth alone in his bedroom. In his hands was a piece of parchment, crumpled and torn slightly from repeated handling. Even though he could recite its contents by heart at that point, his teal-green eyes still darted back and forth and his boyish smile grew wider with each pass just like the day the delivery owl first brought it to him. At the top of the parchment was an ornate coat of arms depicting a lion, badger, eagle, and serpent with a stalely black H in the middle. Underneath it, in the neatest handwriting the boy's ever seen, were the words:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Dot Pixis

(Order of Merlin, Second Class)

Dear Mr. Jaeger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.

Once he had gotten his fill, he shoved the letter into the pocket of his trousers and proceeded to jump around in utter joy, completely disregarding how many Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans he stepped on or how many disgruntled chess pieces he sent hurtling around the room.

"_This is it; I'm finally going to learn magic!_" Eren thought to himself as he bounced his way over to the leather bound trunk in the center of the room. Perched atop the trunk was a bird cage with a barn owl with sleek golden-brown feathers. "Coming through, Sina," Eren said as he lifted the cage and set it beside the trunk. He lifted the lid, revealing a tangled mess of clothes and wrinkled, black robes, with rolls of parchment, scattered quills and broken ink bottles sprinkled on the top. Ignoring the already sordid state of his trunk, he went around the room collecting even more of his belongings and haphazardly throwing them in. Textbooks, a telescope, candy, quidditch cards, cursing chess pieces - all flew one by one into the trunk.

Once the trunk was full Eren took a deep breath and picked his wand up from atop his dresser and unlike everything else he picked it up carefully, as if one wrong move would break it. He paused to stare at it for a moment, his eyes twinkling with childlike wonder. "_This is it_," he thought again. He waved his wand with gusto proudly, only to be engulfed by a cloud of purple smoke with a loud bang. Eren coughed and tried to wave the smoke away while Sina filled the room with angry hoots.

There was a popping sound on the other side of the door followed by a woman's voice.

"Eren, what are you doing in there?"

"Nothing!" he said back irritably, still hacking and sputtering.

"Doesn't sound like nothing. You better not be fooling around with that wand again, no son of mine is missing his Sorting because he was laid up in St. Mungo's with a second nose."

"No, I'm fine, I swear. I just dropped a couple of books on the floor," He answered quickly. He knew this wouldn't quite crush his mother's suspicions but thankfully she let it go for the time being.

"Well, remember to pack your trunk _neatly_. I don't want you running around in the morning still trying to find your extra socks."

"Mom! I've got it under control!" Eren shouted back. He could hear her chuckle through the small wooden door which only made him furrow his eyebrows in annoyance.

"Alright then, oh, also your friend Armin was looking for you. He said he would be at the park when you're ready. Don't stay out too long and come back in time for dinner, okay, honey?"

Eren perked up at this and swiftly grunted his approval to his mother. He waited until he heard his mother Disapparate before placing his wand safely inside the trunk, closing it and leaving the room. Eren ran down the stairs taking each step two at a time, trying to ignore the nagging coming from the moving paintings that lined the walls. Although Eren was absolutely fascinated with anything and everything magical, he did prefer the pictures his mom kept of her family that didn't move or speak at all.

"Take it easy, boy. Why are you always in such a rush?" Came the deep voice of his grandfather's portrait.

"Honestly, can't you ever tuck in your shirt? You look like a delinquent!" Came the shrill voice of his father's aunt.

"Oh, leave him alone, can't you see he's in a hurry?" The soothing voice of his grandmother interjected.

Eren silently thanked his grandmother and continued on his way, leaving them to bicker amongst themselves. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he bounded towards the front door but was interrupted by the sound of a man's voice calling out to him.

"Off to go meet up with Armin, son?" Eren slid to a stop and turned to find his father, Grisha, standing in the kitchen doorway with his back towards him as he pulled on his long dark coat. A piece of parchment floated in front of his face while a ring of potion vials filled with strange and multicolored liquids circled around him, each one expertly pouring, mixing, and splashing their contents into one another without a single drop ever touching the floor. Grisha adjusted his glasses and leaned in to take a closer look at what was written on the parchment and mumbled something that Eren couldn't make out.

"Yeah, he said he was going to be at the park." He glanced down at the suitcase at his father's feet. "You aren't going to work again are you? I thought you had the day off," he asked cocking an eyebrow.

"Afraid so. Another case of the Archidoxes," he said gravely, not taking his eyes off the parchment. "St. Mungo's needs every Healer on board if we're ever going to be able to replace all that blood in time..." Grisha rolled up the parchment and tucked it into his coat's front pocket. "I'll be back in time for dinner though, don't worry," he said, turning to Eren for the first time.

"Alright, but are you sure you are going to be there on Platform 9 and 3/4 tomorrow to say goodbye?" Eren said, hope shining in his eyes.

Grisha paused for a split second before placing his hand on Eren's head and ruffling his hair, smiling warmly down at him. "Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world." With that said he picked up his suitcase and tucked it under his arm.

The young boy bid his father farewell then whipped around to head outside.

* * *

><p>A small, blonde boy with big blue eyes was sitting by himself on a swing-set under a tree in an empty park. The little boy was looking down at a book in his lap and chanting something under his breath. When he seemed to have had his fill he raised his arm which was holding a wand and pointed it at a medium sized rock nearby. The boy looked around to make sure he was truly alone before whispering "<em>Wingardium Leviosa,<em>" nothing happened. The boy studied the book again. "_Did I say it right?" _he thought to himself. The blonde boy cleared his throat and waved the wand with a neat swish and flick motion. "_Wingardium Leviosa!"_ he enunciated more clearly this time. Now the rock lifted off the ground and hovered two feet up in the air. The boy smiled to himself looking very pleased with his success.

"ARMIN!" a loud voice rang out from behind the blue eyed boy. Armin let out a short scream and jerked forward causing the rock to ricochet off the nearby tree and whiz past his ear. There was a loud thump and the sound of a body falling to the ground. "Ow! Damn it, Armin!" realizing who the voice belonged to Armin turned around and saw his best friend, Eren, laying on the ground with a hand clasped over his forehead in pain.

"I'm so sorry, Eren, you just surprised me," Armin said quickly while getting off the swings and moving over to help his friend up.

Eren groaned and sat up, rubbing his head as Armin offered his hand to him. "Forget about it, I probably should have tapped you on the shoulder or something," he grabbed Armin's small hand and hoisted himself up onto his feet. The brown haired boy kicked the offending rock away and looked at his buddy who was watching him carefully. "What were you doing anyway?" he asked.

Armin looked down at his wand looking a bit guilty. "I was practicing some magic, I know we're not supposed to use magic since there might be Muggles around but..." he trailed off.

"Ha, don't worry nobody saw you but me," Eren said waving his hand dismissively and taking a seat on the second swing. "So, are you ready for the big day tomorrow?" Eren said, a wide grin plastered on his face. "I hope I'm in Gryffindor, that's where most great wizards come from!"

Armin retook his seat on the swings next to Eren and nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be," he replied while looking down at his hands. "But I don't think Gryffindor is for me though, maybe Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad."

Eren snorted and shook his head. "You? A Hufflepuff? No way, you're smart Armin, you'll probably be in Ravenclaw."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Armin said looking skeptical.

Eren turned to him looking shocked. "Are you kidding me? Who is the one that got me out of trouble when I turned your grandpa's hair pink?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And who was the one that kept me out of trouble when I accidentally got that kid stuck in a tree?"

"That wasn't really-"

"What about the time when-"

"Okay, fine, I do get you out of trouble a lot but do you really think that's enough?" Armin cut him off.

Eren shrugged his shoulders. "It's enough for me," he paused then added, "And if they don't let you in, I'll hex every last one of them!"

This earned him a chuckle out of his friend. "You don't even know any hexes yet," Armin said shaking his head but smiling.

Eren scoffed. "Then I'll shove my wand up their noses and kick their asses up and down the halls," the brown haired boy swung his legs back and forth. "Besides you could probably teach me a thing or two on the train, you've already mastered the art of hitting people with flying rocks," he laughed.

Armin's face grew red with embarrassment. "Oh, shut up it was an accident," he said kicking out at Eren's leg.

Eren dodged and settled down. He looked up to the darkening sky and sighed. "We've been waiting for this practically our whole lives Armin. We're ready!" he said reaching up to the sky and balling up his hand into a fist. "We can do this! We just need to stick together and everything will be okay."

Armin hummed in agreement and looked up into the sky as well. He really was excited to go to Hogwarts, finally they were going to be around wizards and witches their age. Finally they were going to have things in common with other people, no more would they have to endure odd looks and quiet whispers behind their backs. They were going to be taught to control and harness their magical powers by professionals. Armin wasn't just excited he was fired up and ready to go. Suddenly Armin jumped to his feet and yelled "Hogwarts, here we come!"

Eren jumped to his feet too and shouted into the night sky. "They aren't going to be ready for us!"

* * *

><p>A house elf was roving around a large kitchen in a hurry as it was trying to set up a table and prepare dinner simultaneously. This house elf was no bigger than three feet high, wore a towel like a toga, and had jagged grooves in his ears like someone had carved them out with a knife. Plates, forks, spoons and knives hovered and flew through the air with the flick of the elf's wrists and gently came to rest themselves down on the table. The elf swiveled around to face the stove and gasped in horror at the sight of the pot of boiling water overflowing. He hastened to reach the knob to turn the heat down but was beaten to it by a young girl with long dark hair and calm black eyes.<p>

"You know you could always ask me to help you, Squeaky." The girl spoke softly to the apologetic looking house elf. "It wouldn't be any trouble at all."

The elf shook his head vigorously at this. "No, Miss Mikasa, it is Squeaky's duty as this house's servant and Squeaky's alone." He cast his eyes around the room nervously and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Squeaky doesn't want Master Kaney to think Squeaky was slacking off," he said while visibly shaking. He grasped at his torn ears and snapped his eyes shut. "He'd punish poor Squeaky and-"

"Well then I'll just have to order you to let me help you," Mikasa insisted gently.

Squeaky stood there staring up at her, his eyes wide with conflict. He however soon stepped aside obediently to give her access to the counter.

Mikasa flashed the elf a small reassuring smile then began expertly balancing the delicious smelling dishes of food in her arms and bringing them over to the table. Minutes passed in silence as the two worked in tandem until a loud cracking sound like a gunshot suddenly rang through the air without warning. Mikasa froze in place while Squeaky let out a yelp and dropped the plate he was holding, causing it to shatter. The kitchen door slammed open with a heavy clanging sound and a tall man in a bowler hat with a long, gaunt face strode into the room, unabashed by the commotion he had caused. This man was Mikasa's uncle, he was a tall middle aged man with short, coarse-looking dark hair that reached down to his neck with a thin beard along his jaw line.

Without even glancing at Squeaky he snarled, "Pick it up you incompetent beast," as he walked over to take his seat at the head of the table.

The house elf let out a short yelp and promptly did as he was told. Squeaky immediately dropped to all fours and frantically scrambled to pick up the pieces as fast as he could. "Squeaky is so very sorry, sir. It won't happen again, Master Kaney, sir. Squeaky is so so so very sorry, so very very sor-"

"_Quietly," _Kaney hissed, his dark, sunken eyes narrowing. He noticed Mikasa was in the room for the first time and his eyes stopped at the plate in her hands.

"You helping him again? It's this fool's job to get dinner ready and you know it." Kaney observed Mikasa with a cold glare. "

"I do know that and he was doing a wonderful job by himself," Mikasa responded stiffly. "I just ordered him to let me give him an extra hand."

Her uncle clicked his tongue. "You spoil this dirty little mongrel too much." Kaney leaned back in his chair and removed a cigar and his wand from his jacket pocket. He placed one end of the cigar in his mouth then pointed the tip of his wand at the other. "_Incendio,"_ he muttered as his wand sent out a tiny burst of fire. The cigar lit successfully as he took a drag from it, blue and green smoke billowing out of his mouth and nose. He took the cigar out of his mouth and addressed Mikasa in a coarse voice. "So where is that midget brother of yours?" He gestured around the room. "It's time for dinner."

Mikasa was saved from answering when, as if on cue, the sound of the front door opening and closing reached their ears. A short boy with straight black hair styled in an undercut and sharp, intimidating grey eyes nonchalantly strolled into the kitchen.

Kaney leaned forward and turned to the boy. "So, Levi, where have you been, shorty? I was just asking Mikasa about you, I was worried sick." He said sarcastically.

Levi glanced at Mikasa with an expressionless face as she sat down across from him before turning his attention back on his uncle. "Is that so?" Levi scowled at Kaney. "I never knew you cared, old man. Maybe you're getting a bit soft." He held up his hand and signaled to Squeaky. "Could you possibly bring me some tea, Squeaky?"

"Yes of course, young master. Squeaky has it already made for you, just the way you like it, sir!" Squeaky piped up eagerly from his corner. He snapped his fingers, causing the cup of tea on the counter to disappear and reappear in the air in front of Levi.

"Thank you very much," Levi said politely, taking the tea out of the air and setting it beside his plate.

Kaney let out a short bark of laughter, picked up his fork and dug it straight into a chicken leg to put it on his plate. "Soft, eh? Nonsense, boy. I'm your uncle and I should know what my brats are up to, that's all," he said continuing the conversation and biting into his chicken. With his mouth still filled with food he turned to Mikasa and spoke. "Ain't that right, Mikasa?"

"Ugh, for Christ's sake don't talk with your shitty mouth open," Levi spat in disgust as he neatly piled food onto his own plate. Kaney ignored this comment and continued to watch Mikasa with an expectant look.

She barely nodded her head. "I suppose so," she said quietly, playing with her own food.

"What's wrong? Something eating you?" Kaney asked. "I know you're quiet but you haven't even touched your food. You should be happy, you get to leave this dump and finally go off to Hogwarts."

Mikasa shrugged her shoulders. "It's not that big of a deal."

Kaney let out a low whistle. "You hear that, Levi? She says it's not that big a deal!" He laughed and leaned back in his chair so he could put his feet on the table. "I remember you couldn't have been happier to have been going off to Hogwarts."

Levi took a sip of his tea before replying. "Yes, just imagine my joy when I found out that normal people don't put their dirty feet on the table when they eat." And with that he nudged his uncle's feet off the table with his elbow. Squeaky suddenly popped up beside him and handed Levi a cloth which he took and used it to wipe the vacant spot clean. He handed the cloth back to Squeaky and the house elf scurried away to tend to his corner.

Kaney shook his head. "You care more about cleaning this house than the damn elf does. I can see why you're so fond of him though. He's the only living creature in this house that's shorter than you," Kaney chided him with a sickening smile.

"No, actually, I treat Squeaky with _respect_ because he does his best every single day and would you have possibly guessed that he has _feelings_?" Levi said keeping his composure. "I may be expecting too much from someone with a tiny, black monkey heart though."

"Are all kids these days as disrespectful as you are?" Their uncle demanded while taking another drag from his cigar. "I can't wait until you two are out of my house."

Levi ignored him and went back to eating his food.

Fed up with his nephew Kaney turned to his silent niece. "Anyway you better be sorted into Slytherin like this one or I'm disowning you," he raised his voice slightly. "And if you're sorted into lousy Hufflepuff, don't even think of coming back this summer."

Mikasa nodded although she thought being sorted into Hufflepuff would be a much better fate than being in Slytherin with her older brother. This year Levi would be in his fourth year and for the past three years Mikasa has seen hundreds of owls visit their home with the news of his unruly behavior. He trash talked professors, hexed fellow students, and purposefully broke school rules just to get detention (where the punishment was usually cleaning). It was a wonder that they didn't just kick him out but to be fair he was a very gifted wizard for his age.

Kaney looked satisfied and then pushed his plate forward to signal he was done. "You lot better have everything ready for tomorrow," he said putting on a serious tone. "I don't want any shit tomorrow, got that?" he added.

Levi and Mikasa both grunted in acknowledgement.

"The Ministry of Magic owes me a favor so they are going to be sending us a Muggle car," he continued. "Unfortunately, I won't be joining you on the platform so, Levi, you're in charge. Make sure Mikasa gets on board alright."

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to take care of her by myself," Levi muttered under his breath.

Kaney snapped his fingers causing Squeaky to Apparate to his side with a small pop. "Clean this up," he barked at the house elf before he got up and left the room. The elf obeyed the command at once and took his plate and utensils over to the sink.

Levi turned his head to make sure that their uncle was gone before speaking to Mikasa. "I'm warning you right now, you're on your own once we get to the castle. I'm not going to be your babysitter, brat," He hissed at her. "But if I hear about you getting into trouble-"

"Like you're one to talk," Mikasa snapped back at him. "I don't need you looking after me, I can take care of myself."

The boy paused, giving her a calculating look. He knew all too well by now that his little sister was a capable young girl. "Look, I just don't want you getting caught up in my shit or anybody else's for that matter," with that said, Levi picked up his plate and took it to the sink before leaving the room as well.

Mikasa stared down at her still full plate. _"What does he mean by getting caught up in his shit? Is there something I've missed? Something I have yet to know about him?"_ Mikasa thought to herself. "_No, it couldn't be..."_ Mikasa was jolted out of her thoughts by Squeaky tugging on her shirt sleeve.

"Miss, you have not touched your food at all. Squeaky believes Miss needs all of her strength for tomorrow's journey," Squeaky implored her.

She shook her head at the worried looking house elf. "I'm not hungry right now, I'll make sure to eat before I go tomorrow," She offered her plate to Squeaky. "You could have it instead if you like."

Squeaky took the plate and gave Mikasa a wide grin. "Thank you Miss Mikasa, you and Master Levi are very kind, Squeaky is sad to see you both go." The elf's ears drooped a little.

Mikasa reached out and patted the elf's head. "I'll make sure to write to you whenever I can, Squeaky," the young girl got up from her seat and began to leave the kitchen. "Goodnight," she called over her shoulder as she left Squeaky alone.

"Goodnight, Miss Mikasa."

* * *

><p><strong>A.N.<strong> - And that makes the end of the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it and there will be more to come. Review so I can get some feedback because this is the first story I've ever written. If you've got any questions feel free to ask and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities. Have a nice day~


	2. Chapter 2

First Impressions: Part One  
><span>

Countless people milled about King's Cross Station, commuters in a hurry to get to work, tourists chattering away about their plans for the day, children racing up and down the platforms, leaving their exasperated parents behind. Crowds of people hastily parted as Eren and Armin raced through the station pushing carts loaded with leather bound trunks and in Eren's case with a screeching barn owl in a cage on top. The two boys laughed as they swerved around a large group of Muggles waiting for their train earning them disapproving remarks and glares as they passed.

"Boys! Get back here right now you're causing a scene!" Carla hurried after them looking furious.

"Those your boys? You better keep a handle on them or I'm kicking you and them out of the station, lady," a portly guard told the fuming woman.

"There won't be anything to kick out once I get through with them," Carla grumbled as she saw Eren and Armin come to an abrupt halt right in front of the pillar between platforms nine and ten. Eren walked up to the pillar and experimentally put his hand through the barrier while Armin stood next to him shielding his action from any prying Muggle eyes.

"What does it feel like?" Armin asked.

"Feels like a whole lot of nothing," Eren replied.

"Take your hand out of there this instant!" Eren's mother whispered urgently as she came up behind the two boys.

"Now, Carla, let them have their fun for today. They've both been looking forward to this day since they could walk and talk," a brown haired, middle aged, bearded man stood beside Carla and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Well at least I know Armin has, he could barely even speak when he got his letter," the man chuckled and gazed at his grandson fondly.

"Oh, you can't get Eren to talk about anything else at all, he's like a machine," Grisha came to stand by his wife's other side. "But at any rate I agree with Benjamin, there won't be another first day like this ever again so let's cherish this moment while it lasts."

Carla sighed and softly smiled. "Yes, you're both right I suppose," Carla moved forward and placed her hands on both of the boy's backs, looking around furtively. "Well go on then, let's get you two on the train," she hustled the boys through the barrier.

Eren and Armin stood in awe as the magnificent scarlet train, the Hogwarts Express, came into view, its smoke billowing along the platform. Cats mewled to each other from in between their owner's legs, owl's fluttered their wings restlessly in their cages, and kids hung out compartment windows to say goodbye to their families.

"Wow, it's even better than I imagined," Armin exclaimed.

"I know right, this is so cool!" Eren said, his eyes darted around in all directions trying to take in everything.

Carla and Benjamin suddenly materialized behind them and Armin's grandfather stopped to look at the Hogwarts Express.

"Did you know that my own grandfather was in the first group of students ever to ride the Hogwarts Express to school?" Benjamin ran his fingers through his beard thoughtfully.

"What? You mean this train is even older than you are?" Eren said looking surprised.

"Eren, don't ask rude questions like that," Carla warned, taking Eren's cart and pushing it towards the train.

Benjamin laughed and patted Eren on the back. "Don't worry, Carla, that actually made me feel a bit younger," he moved over to take hold of Armin's cart and helped him towards the train as well. When they got closer he lifted Armin's trunk off the cart, groaning as he placed it safely on the train. "See that, boys? This old man still has some strength left in him," he said letting out a huge gasp of air. "Trunks a bit heavier than I remember though."

Carla took Sina's cage and placed it on the train. "Grisha should be over here helping us, where did he go?" she turns around, her hands on her hips.

"Huh, he was with us when we came in," Armin said, looking around.

"Over there," Eren called out, pointing past the crowd to the entrance. Grisha stood with his back turned to them slightly and was talking into a small mirror with a grim look on his face. "I'll go get him!" Eren said as he started to walk towards his father.

"Wait a minute, Eren, he might be busy right now, don't bother him!" Carla called after her son with a worried look on her face. However, it was too late. By the time she had finished her sentence Eren was already pushing his way through the crowd. He slowed down as he got closer to his father and accidentally overheard some of his conversation.

"Another incident, huh? Same symptoms as last time? Damn, how is this happening? I'll be right there as soon as-"

"Dad? What's going on?" Eren asked, catching his father's attention. Startled, Grisha jerked up straight and quickly put the mirror back in his jacket pocket.

"Right... I'm sorry, Eren, but I have to get to St. Mungo's. There's another emergency relating to the Archidoxes and they need me there immediately."

"But Dad, you promised," Eren said, looking crestfallen. "I thought you were going to be here to see me leave."

"Now Eren, you know I don't want to break my promise to you but people need me right now," Grisha smiled sadly down at him, placing his hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry that I won't be able to watch you go but at least I made it this far, right?"

Eren didn't reply for a moment. He turned his face away from him and frowned. "...I guess."

Grisha sighed and pulled his son into a hug. "Time will fly and before you know it, Christmas will come around and you'll be able to see me again. I'll be missing you just as much as you will be missing me. So just remember that I love you, son."

"Love you too, dad," Eren responded, hugging him back.

They pulled apart as the blast of the train's whistle signaled that the train was about to leave. Grisha nudged him forward. "I've kept you too long, hurry you need to get on the train."

Eren ran as fast as he couldan to where his mother and Armin's grandpa were beckoning to him to hurry up. Before he reached them he looked back to where his dad was standing but he was no longer there.

"What did your father say?" his mother asked as she gave him a short hug and helped him onto the train.

"He's needed at St. Mungo's again... said it was an emergency," Eren said, still looking a bit disappointed.

Carla kissed his forehead and stepped back as the train started moving. "Cheer up, he's just doing his job, honey," she called to him as the train picked up speed.

"Yeah, I know, goodbye mom," he called back and waved to her.

Armin came to his side and waved goodbye to both his grandfather and Carla. "See you at Christmas!"

"Take care, boys, and have a good time!" Benjamin shouted as the train turned around a corner, taking the view of the two boys out of sight.

* * *

><p>Once the train went around the corner Eren and Armin turned to each other. Both of them looked very unsure of what to do next or where to go next for that matter. Eren scratched the back of his head and glanced around, looking distracted.<p>

"So, should we just go find a compartment then?" Armin inquired looking nervous. He didn't want to ask Eren about the conversation he just had with his dad because he still seemed upset despite what he said to his mother. Armin knew by now that when Eren was in a foul mood it was best to just leave him alone. If he wanted to talk he would talk about it when he's ready.

"Yeah, lead the way," Eren moved to the side to let Armin go in front of him. "Anywhere will be fine."

The two started their journey down the train, looking for an empty compartment in silence. Before entering each new compartment door they took peeks through the window to see people laughing and chattering away to their friends. They caught countless snippets of conversation as they passed through, mostly of friends recounting their summer vacations to each other, but one particular group of first years caught Eren's attention.

"You do realize we have to take a test to be Sorted right? I heard they make first years fight off a dragon," a boy with slicked back, dark brown hair said enthusiastically.

"Are they really allowed to do that? T-that doesn't seem safe at all!" a girl with long black hair tied in loose pigtails stuttered.

"But we don't know any magic yet, how do they expect us to do something like that!" a blonde boy with long sideburns cut in.

"Guys calm down, we don't have to fight a dragon he was just pulling your legs," another boy with silvery blonde hair says almost exasperatedly.

"Aww, why did you have to go and ruin the fun!" the brown haired boy said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"You liar, I'm never listening to you ever again!" the girl shouted at him.

Eren shook his head as the sound of their ensuing argument faded away the farther they walked. "Those two must be Muggle-Born if they don't know about the Sorting Hat."

"Not everybody gets to be born into a wizarding family, they'll learn eventually," Armin shrugs. "I wonder what living like a Muggle and finding out you're a wizard feels like."

"I'd probably think someone was joking with me or they're completely insane," Eren snickered, his good mood slowly starting to return.

Armin came to an unexpected halt and threw his arm out to stop Eren who nearly bumped into him. "Wait, what about this compartment?" he nodded towards the door he was referring to.

Eren looked inside to see the compartment empty except for a girl with long dark hair sitting by the window. She was staring gloomily out at the fields the train passed by, her face void of any expression.

"I don't know, Armin, it looks like she doesn't want any company," Eren said doubtfully.

"Well every other compartment we passed is full and we're almost at the end of the train," Armin persisted. Eren still looked skeptical but Armin continued. "Just be nice, I'll do all of the talking."

I'll be nice to her if she's nice to me," Eren mumbled to himself, frowning.

Armin opened the compartment door and stepped inside and cleared his throat to get the girl's attention. "Excuse me, can my friend and I sit with you? We can't find any compartments to ourselves."

The girl turned to them and scrutinized them for a moment, it almost felt like she was looking into the depths of their souls. With a stare like that Eren didn't blame anyone for not sitting with her. He could feel Armin shiver beside him as they waited for her answer. The silence in the compartment lasted only seconds but to Eren it felt like an eternity.

"W-we could leave if you-" Armin started nervously.

"No, you two can stay," the girl said in a soft but firm voice. She then turned back to the window without another word.

Armin appeared relieved as he took a seat and motioned for Eren to sit across from him. Eren moved into the compartment, glancing warily at the girl in the corner but he took his seat anyway. Eren shifted uncomfortably, he didn't know what to do or say next. Thankfully Armin decided to break through the awkward silence that was consuming the compartment. "Uh, my name is Armin Arlert, by the way," Armin piped up with a small smile. "And this is my friend, Eren Jaeger," he added, gesturing to Eren who simply nodded at her.

"Mikasa Ackerman," she said quietly, fiddling with her fingers.

"Ackerman huh, I think I've heard that name somewhere before," Eren spoke up. "Are your parents wizards?"

She shook her head ruefully. "I live with my uncle, he works for the Ministry of Magic. You've probably heard about him from there."

This seemed to peak Armin's interest. "What department is he in?" he asked leaning forward, wanting to hang onto every word she said.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he's the head of the Auror Office," she said turning towards them completely for the first time.

"That's so cool, I want to become an Auror myself someday," Eren said, a bright gleam entering his eyes. "What's it like? Has he caught a lot of dark wizards? Have you ever been to Azkaban or met a dementor? I hear dementors can suck out your soul and all the prisoners go insane, is that true?" he started rapidly rattling off questions.

Mikasa didn't quite know where to start on answering all of the questions he was bombarding her with; she wasn't prepared for someone to actually be interested in what she had to say for once. "Um, my uncle doesn't really tell me a lot about what he does, sorry," her voice was barely above a whisper. "He says it's too dangerous."

Eren deflated a little but quickly recovered when Armin game him a warning look.

Armin seemed to sense Mikasa's sudden unease and to her relief he switched the topic of the conversation around. "We've been asking you so much about yourself but we haven't said anything about us yet."

"My dad is the Healer-in-Charge on the second floor of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Magical Bugs and Diseases is his specialty," Eren recited automatically as if he's said this a hundred times before.

"My grandpa works in the Department of Runes and Symbols, my parents also worked there before they left to travel the world finding ancient artifacts and such," Armin said lowering his voice a little. "It's not as interesting as it sounds though, days are pretty slow in the office normally," he looked down at his hands.

"No, I think both of those jobs are pretty intriguing actually," Mikasa calmly assured him. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards just a bit when Armin looked up at her with a genuine smile. Even Eren was starting to feel more relaxed as he put his feet up on one of the empty seats. Everything was going perfectly as they continued to chat amongst themselves, occasionally cracking jokes or sharing some of their experiences. It was later in the afternoon when there came a knock on their compartment door and a squat little witch with a trolley filled with sweets stood outside their compartment. Eren jumped to his feet, pulling out a sack from his pocket that made a ton of clinking sounds, he immediately reached for the door and opened it.

"Take as much as you like, dears," the trolley witch said with a smile.

"You guys want anything, I'm buying," Eren called to Armin and Mikasa over his shoulder.

Both Armin and Mikasa stood up and walked over to stand on either side of Eren to inspect the items on the trolley. There was so many treats and sweets to choose from that it was almost overwhelming.

"I'll take a couple of Chocolate Frogs, I need more cards to add to my collection," Armin said as he picked some up. "Oh, and some Pumpkin Pasties would be nice," he added as the witch handed them over.

"Cauldron Cakes, please," Mikasa requested, reaching into her own pocket.

Eren put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hey, come on, I said I'm buying."

"You don't have to do that I've got enough money," Mikasa shook his hand off and extracted the right amount of money to pay for the Cauldron Cakes. The trolley witch handed her the treats and Mikasa made her way back to her seat.

This didn't sit well with Eren but he reluctantly let it go and ordered the witch for more candy. "I'll take a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, a couple of packs of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and throw in a couple of Liquorice Wands."

"That will be eleven Sickles for everything, dear," the witch said sweetly. Eren took out eleven silver coins from his pouch and handed them over. They thanked the witch and turned back to their seats to dump the candy. The trolley witch closed the door for them and continued to walk along the train pushing the cart.

Eren bit into a Liquorice Wand and began to speak again as Armin and Mikasa unwrapped their candy. "So, what House do you think you'll end up in," he asked Mikasa.

She took a bite out of her Cauldron Cake before answering. "My uncle was a Slytherin and my older brother is one too," she paused for a second. "I think my uncle once told me being in Slytherin runs in the family for us."

Eren wrinkled his nose as if he was smelling something foul. "I hear people from Slytherin are a bunch of assholes," he said bluntly.

"_Eren_!" Armin hissed.

"What? It's true though," he turned back to Mikasa and gave her a piercing glare. "You better hope you're not in Slytherin."

"Not everyone from Slytherin is as bad as the rumours say they are," Mikasa replied, her voice raising. She understood the rumors about Slytherin all too well and, truth be told, she already hoped that she wouldn't be in Slytherin. However, she wasn't going to take Eren insulting her family or his condescending attitude lightly. "You do realize that bad people can come from the other Houses as well?"

"Guys, can we just calm down for a sec-" Armin got up between them still holding a struggling Chocolate Frog in his hand.

Eren got to his feet and pushed Armin to the side. "Give me one example of a bad wizard that came from Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, right now!" he was now in Mikasa's face, they were practically nose to nose.

She placed her hand on his chest and forced him back away from her. "I'm pretty sure my uncle has arrested plenty of former Gryffindors and Ravenclaws who thought they could be above the law. They probably think they're so high and mighty because of people like you who say they can do no wrong!" she raised her voice sharply. "Just because someone is in Slytherin doesn't make them a bad person, you don't know anything!

Eren wasn't listening anymore, his face was hot and contorted with rage. "Those are petty compared to the things Slytherins have done!" he retorted fiercely. "Haven't you heard of that group of dark wizards, the people who have gone around torturing wizards and murdering Muggles in the past have all come from SLYTHERIN!" he shouted. "THOSE are the type of people who your god damn uncle should be locking up and letting ROT in Azkaban! Are you going to try and defend those people too, because they are the same people that had Armin's parents murdered!" Eren jabbed his finger at Armin who was now sitting with his head in his hands looking downright miserable. All of the anger drained from Mikasa's face and was replaced with genuine sympathy.

"I'm so sorry Armin, I didn't_-_"

"No, no, it's fine really. Eren, _please_ just st-"

"If you get Sorted into Slytherin don't even bother talking to me anymore. You'll probably turn out just like the rest of your no good family," Eren spat, ignoring his friend. Before he could stop her, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and forcefully pulled him towards her. Eren was too stunned at her sudden movement to do anything but stare back at her dumbfounded.

"What makes you so special? What gives you the right to judge people you've never met?" she said in a cold voice, her eyes livid with renewed anger. "You don't know anything about my family. What makes you so much better than us?" before Eren could even blink she reeled back her other hand and punched him in the face as hard as she could, making him fall flat on his back. Armin gasped, he seemed too surprised and frightened to even make a move. Eren propped himself up on one arm and held his cheek with his free hand, too stunned to move. His face stung like she had hit him with a hot metal rod. Glaring down at him she said, "My brother and uncle aren't easy to live with but they're both twice the wizard you'll ever be. I don't care what House you get Sorted into, don't bother talking to _me._"

With his face burning with rage and embarrassment, Eren threw off his initial shock and quickly got back on his feet. "That's it!" he reached into his pocket and whipped out his wand, pointing it directly at her but suddenly the compartment door slid open with a bang making all of them jump.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, asshole!" An unknown boy's voice shouted.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N.<strong> - I really do hate having to make Eren look like a complete douche but he's got to be mad at something since there aren't titans around. Who's the boy at the end? Take a wild guess. I promise that I'll make the next chapter a bit more light hearted. Just know that things will work themselves out in the end.

This chapter went from 0 to 100 real quick.

*Benjamin is the name I made up for Armin's grandfather since he has no stated first name in canon.


	3. Chapter 3

First Impressions: Part Two

The Hogwarts Express rolled along through open fields and past large mountains on its way to its destination. A boy of average height, with short ash-brown hair, and a long face stared lazily out the window of the moving train. He sat alone in his compartment but he didn't mind that at all. In fact, he liked it better that way. The minutes ticked by in tranquil silence until there was a knock at the compartment door.

"Come in," the boy drawled without looking at the door. He heard the door open and the footsteps of someone stepping inside the compartment. He finally turned his head to see who had entered when the visitor spoke to him in a gentle voice.

"Hello, can I sit with you?" a petite girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes asked.

The boy straightened up and nodded. "Sure, make yourself comfortable," he waved his hand gesturing around the compartment. "My name is Jean Kirstein," he held out his hand to her with a grin.

"Call me Krista," she said, shaking his hand.

Jean's grin faltered and his eyebrows furrowed. "That's not right," he stated blankly.

Krista relinquished her grip on his hand, immediately looking worried. "W-what, do you mean?" she stammered, panic flitting across her face.

"Your name, it's not right. I'm pretty sure I've seen you somewhere before..." Jean said. He started snapping his fingers, trying to remember where he knew this girl from. The answer finally dawned on him and he nearly shouted, "I remember now! You're the Minister of Magic's daughter, Historia Re-"

"Shh, not so loud!" Krista silenced him by clapping her hand over his mouth. "I'm trying to lay low so _please_ can you refer to me as Krista? Can I trust you, Jean?" she took her hand off his mouth.

"Oh, sure you got it. No problem, I won't tell a single soul," Jean nodded earnestly. He crossed his arms and smirked. "But, you know people will find out who you are sooner or later."

"I know," Krista looked down sadly. "I just want people to see me like a normal person while I still can. Not just as the Minister of Magic's daughter."

"That's understandable," Jean said sympathetically as he got up to close the door she had left open.

"No, wait! Don't close it yet, my, um, companions, are coming," Krista said bashfully as she grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him.

"What, like bodyguards or something?" Jean turned to her, puzzled.

"Not like that, they're, uh, acquaintances?" she shook her head and smiled up at him looking apologetic. Jean raised an eyebrow, still not fully understanding what she was talking about. "Okay, there's two of them: a boy and a girl. You see, I found the girl in the station trying to break into one of those big, metal, Muggle boxes that give out candy. I stopped her before any of the guards caught onto her and after that she started following me around the station. I thought she was a Muggle at first so I was a bit surprised that she was able to follow me all the way onto Platform 9 and ¾," she explained. "As for the boy, he nearly ran me over with his trolley but the girl pushed me out of the way in time. The boy said he was sorry, we all started talking and I found out they're both Muggle-borns, and ever since then they've been following me around like I'm some sort of wizarding world guide."

Jean furrowed his eyebrows and scowled, "So why don't you tell them to take a hike already?"

"I enjoy their company," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "They're very, how do I put this... animated?" Krista said with a nervous giggle.

Jean didn't like the sound of that at all. Whoever these two were, they didn't sound like the type of people he wanted to deal with at the moment. He soon found to his dismay that his suspicions were well placed when a girl's voice suddenly shouted close to his ear.

"Krista, there you are! And who is this, is he a friend of yours?" a girl with light brown eyes and brown hair kept in a ponytail entered the compartment, grinning from ear to ear.

"No, this is Jean, I've just met him actually," Krista said, rubbing the back of her neck.

The girl spiritedly waved her hand at him, "Well hello there, my name's Sasha Braus!" she said rather loudly.

Jean was about to attempt to greet her but flinched in surprise when someone else suddenly slapped him hard on the back.

"My name's Connie Springer, nice to meet ya!" a short boy with a shaved head and hazel eyes said as he entered the compartment and plopped himself down in a chair.

"Yeah, pleasure to meet you too," Jean grumbled lowly as he rubbed his back and returned to his seat. The three newcomers soon made themselves feel at home, Connie and Sasha talking a mile a minute about anything and everything. Krista occasionally dropped a bit of knowledge for them whenever a question would arise. Jean tried to make himself scarce as he resumed looking out the window, ignoring the constant babbling coming from his new companions. "_This is going to be a long trip,"_ he thought to himself, scowling at his reflection in the glass of the window.

* * *

><p>Hours later, the sun had set and Jean could no longer see anything outside the window. Growing bored, he resorted to listening to his companion's conversation for entertainment but still feigned interest in the window so he wouldn't have to join in. However, the more they talked the more he became annoyed at all their silly antics and wild gestures, he knew he was going to eventually snap soon.<p>

"What are we going to be learning at Hogwarts anyway?" Sasha asked Krista, taking out her wand and trying to balance it on her nose.

"I bet we learn how to turn people into frogs," Connie said excitedly. "Bet you anything one of our teachers turns out to be a talking cat!"

Jean rolled his eyes and scoffed, "All of our professors are going to be humans, numb nuts. This isn't like some sort of stupid Muggle TV show."

"But they might have the _ability_ to turn into a cat," Krista quickly amended. "Animagi have the ability to turn into an animal of their choice but there's not too many of them out there."

"Really?! We can turn into an animal if we want?" Sasha gasped. "That's it, I want to be a dinosaur," she said pounding her fists on either side of her seat.

"Ha, you'll get caught and put on display at a zoo faster than you can say Jurassic Park!" Connie laughed.

Krista covered her mouth to stop herself from giggling out loud and Jean shook his head and facepalmed.

"Do you dare challenge my abilities, Connie the Wise?" Sasha stood up from her seat and posed with both of her arms raised above her head, her wand in hand looking offended, jokingly of course.

"Yes, I do challenge thee, Sasha the Voracious," Connie stood up in a viper strike pose, brandishing his own wand at her.

"Have at you then!" Sasha shouted, waving her wand, "Hocus pocus!"

"You shall not pass!" Connie said, twirling his wand around. "Abracadabra!"

"For crying out loud those aren't even real-" Jean began talking angrily.

"Sim sim sala bim!"

"Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!"

Guys, settle down a bit would you-" Krista weakly said, inching away from them as their movements grew wilder.

"Klaatu barada nikto!"

"Shazam!"

Suddenly a series of bangs and pops like firecrackers going off filled the compartment, shouts and screams pierced the air. Bursts of multi-colored lights and sparks erupted from both of Connie and Sasha's wands. Sasha dropped her wand and hit the deck as Connie climbed over her and hid in the luggage rack above their heads. Krista curled up with her knees to her chest, covering her ears with her eyes snapped shut. Jean raised his arm to shield his eyes from the bright lights and tried to move away when he felt Sasha clinging to his leg.

"I can't take this anymore, I'm out of here!" he growled, wrenching his leg out of Sasha's grasp and stepping over her.

"Wait, Jean, you don't have to go," Krista reached out to him trying to calm him down. The commotion subsided and Sasha picked her wand up and got back to her feet.

"Give me one good reason why I should stay," Jean demanded.

Before Krista could answer Connie fell out of the rack and hit the ground with a loud thud. "I'm okay," he said in a muffled voice.

Jean glowered down at Connie's crumpled form then looked back up at Krista, "I rest my case." Jean turned on his heels and stomped out of the compartment, cursing under his breath.

"Aw, see what you did Sasha? You made him leave," Connie got up, rubbing his arm.

"_Me_? I seem to remember that _both_ of us were messing around," Sasha flared up at him.

"This isn't the time to be arguing about that, guys. We should go find him and apologize!" Krista stood up, hands on her hips, giving them a disapproving stare.

Connie and Sasha glanced at each other, guilt creeping onto their faces. They turned back to Krista and nodded, "Let's go," they said in unison.

* * *

><p>Jean stomped angrily down the train, not entirely sure where he was going but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was get far away from those two lunatics as possible. He thought Krista was alright but that wasn't enough to keep him from walking out on that torture. The more he kept walking his head became clearer and his shoulders started to relax. Jean began to search for another compartment to sit in until the train reached Hogsmeade station but he found this difficult since everywhere he looked was already full.<p>

"Great, just my luck, this is the best day of my life," Jean muttered sarcastically to himself, passing yet another full compartment. He was now debating if he should just sit in the hallway, but he dismissed that notion with a shake of his head. "_I don't want to look like a weirdo_," he thought.

He stopped abruptly when he heard a girl and a boy's voice shouting at each other nearby. Jean strained his ears to catch what they were saying but the rumbling of the moving train made it hard to hear. He however concluded where the source of the voices were coming from and tiptoed closer. When he reached the compartment he saw that the door was slightly ajar. Jean carefully peeked through to see a girl with long dark hair, her eyes burning with rage, glaring down at somebody Jean couldn't see at the moment. He jerked his head back and blushed furiously, not wanting to be detected. "_That girl is gorgeous!_" Jean thought, a smirk spreading onto his face.

Jean was broken out of his thoughts and peeked inside the compartment again when he heard a boy's voice shout "That's it!" The boy had his back turned to him but he saw him whip out his wand and point it at the girl. Jean immediately moved into action, he had to do something, he wasn't going to let this guy lay a finger on this girl.

Without a second thought Jean slammed the door open and yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing, asshole!" Everyone in the compartment visibly jumped at his sudden intrusion. Astonished and speechless, to Jean they all looked like deer caught in headlights.

The boy who had his wand out was the first to regain his senses and turned his full attention on Jean. "It's none of your business what I'm doing. Who the hell are you anyway?" Eren asked.

"It became my business when I saw you point your wand at her, doesn't matter who I am," Jean stepped into the compartment and squared up with Eren. "I'm not going to let you hurt her."

"Oh yeah? You're going to protect her?" Eren started to chuckle. "You must have missed the part when she punched me not too long ago. She's no saint and she can handle herself so why don't you get out of here, horseface," Eren shoved Jean almost making him trip.

To Jean's surprise and anger the girl grabbed the back of Eren's shirt and pulled him back. "Eren, stop," she commanded softly. Mikasa had regained her composure and all of the anger in her eyes she had a few moments ago was gone.

For the first time the other boy in the compartment spoke up, "Yeah, listen to Mikasa, Eren, it's not worth it."

Jean stood there flabbergasted now. "_How could she be trying to protect him now? Weren't they just having a shouting match a second ago?_" His face grew red with embarrassment as he saw Eren relax at his friend's words. "_No, this isn't over_," Jean thought, his anger rising. Jean grabbed the front of Eren's shirt and shouted at him, "You probably deserved to get punched, by a girl no less, and don't you _ever_ call me horseface again!"

"Bastard, let go of my shirt or I'll-"

"I don't give a damn about your shirt!" Jean continued to yell.

"Have it your way," Eren said before he ripped Jean's hand off of him and tackled him right out of the compartment. They were now struggling on the ground, punching and kicking each other. Armin hurried out of the compartment, frantically attempting to pull the two apart.

"Get off me you son of a bitch!"

"Agh, he just bit me! Who bites during a fight?!"

"That was revenge for poking me in the eye!"

"You're going to get us in trouble!" Armin hissed. "Mikasa help me, please!" he pleaded.

Mikasa stepped outside and looked around, people were now poking their heads outside their compartments to see what all the commotion was about. "I think I'll stay out of this one, Armin, I'm sorry."

"Hey guys, I found Jean, he's in a fight with some guy," a new voice came out of nowhere.

"Oh no!" a girl with long blonde hair said as she rushed past Mikasa and began helping Armin pull the two fighting boys apart. Mikasa looked back at the two other newcomers who seemed pretty amused with everything that was going on.

"Fight, fight, fight!" Connie chanted, jumping up and down.

"Pull a rabbit out of his hat!" Sasha cheered them on as she secretly took some of Armin's Chocolate Frogs.

"Hit em' with a chair!" Connie said, taking a bite out of Mikasa's unfinished Cauldron Cake.

"Would you two stop eating and, I don't know, _help_?" Krista cried.

Things began to get out of hand as more and more people started to crowd around to egg on the fight. Some people were going as far as placing bets on who would win. Mikasa pushed up the sleeves of her shirt, stepped forward and picked up Eren, throwing him over her shoulder.

"Hey, put me do-" Eren yelped, struggling to be released.

"What is going on here? Everybody disperse!" an authoritative voice commanded from inside the crowd.

* * *

><p>A tall boy with short black hair, a peach fuzz mustache, and a stubbly goatee pushed his way through the crowd. "I am a prefect and I said <em>disperse! <em>Move it or I will dock points from all of you!" he said, raising his voice over the rabble. He wore black robes with a green and silver tie, a badge over his heart gleamed with a large P in the middle. The crowd complied, hurrying to return to their compartments.

The boy came to a stop in front of Mikasa, "Put that boy down," he barked at her.

Mikasa unceremoniously dropped Eren on the ground who yelped again.

The prefect turned to the rest of the group, they were all watching him with wide eyes, waiting to see what he was going to do next. "Whoever was not involved in this fight return to your compartments now," he ordered.

Krista, Sasha, and Connie scurried away without a second thought. "It was nice knowing you, Jean," Connie called back to him.

Jean's eye twitched, "I swear I'm going to murder him," he narrowed his eyes at Connie's retreating form.

"Not today you aren't, you've got enough on your plate already," the prefect stated. "I've never seen you guys before, you're all first years I presume?" he asked.

All of them nodded or grunted in affirmation.

"How nice, getting into a fight on the first day, what a wonderful way to start off your first year together," he sneered at them. "State your names for me," he said taking out a quill and some parchment, getting down to business.

The group side-eyed each other, none of them wanting to go first. Mikasa took the initiative and said in a bored voice, "Mikasa Ackerman."

The prefect snapped his head up from his parchment and inspected Mikasa closely. "Another Ackerman, eh? Figures you would cause trouble just like your troublemaker brother," he spat, writing down her name on the parchment. Eren shifted beside Armin, fake coughing to hide his laugh. Armin elbowed him in the side irritably.

"You must be Nile Dok, you look like a pig just like my brother said," Mikasa retorted, glaring up at Nile. "It must be a huge boost to your ego now that you've been made a prefect this year."

"Watch your mouth or I will have you in detention your whole first week," Nile warned her then turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, give me your names, I don't have all day."

"Eren Jaeger."

"Jean Kirstein."

"Armin-"

"You weren't involved in the fights, Armin, you don't have to say your name," Eren stopped him.

"I'm not letting you get in trouble alone, Eren," Armin insisted.

"Your friend here is right, don't let yourself get dragged down with him," Nile twirled his quill around between his fingers. "Anyways, I'm taking 15 points from whatever Houses you little snots get Sorted into."

"Wait a minute, you can't just do that! The term hasn't even started yet, there are no points to take!" Eren blurted out.

"Oh, yes, I can and I will. Your future House will just have to start out with negative points, I guess," Nile smirked at him. "Also I'm giving you three detention, maybe next time you will think twice before acting like a bunch of trolls fighting over a dung pile." With that said Nile rolled up his parchment and gave them the smuggest look he could muster. "An owl will be sent home to your guardians too, have a nice day."

"Hold on, let's not get crazy here, you don't need to tell our parents about this. We can work this out, right?" Jean tried to bargain with him.

"I'm afraid not, you've got to pay the price, no exceptions even if you are first years," Nile said, standing up to his full height. "Now if there aren't any more objections, I'll be taking my leave now," he concluded and strolled off, leaving them alone.

Jean rounded on Eren once Nile was out of sight. "This is all your fault you know that?" he pointed accusingly at him.

"Don't you start with me again, I'm too tired for this shit," Eren said, swatting his hand away. "This isn't all my fault, we wouldn't have been in trouble if you didn't have to go and grab me, you jerk."

Jean opened his mouth to say something back but Mikasa cut him off.

"Enough, we're almost at Hogsmeade, I'm going back in the compartment to change into my robes," she said curtly before reentering their compartment.

"Tch, whatever, just stay out of my way from now on, Jaeger," Jean glared at Eren before brushing past him roughly and stalking off.

"What's that guy's problem?" Eren asked, rolling his eyes.

Armin shook his head and shoved Eren back into the compartment. "Never mind him, we need to start changing too," when Armin went back to his seat he soon noticed that his pile of Chocolate Frogs was completely gone. "Hey, who took my Chocolate Frogs?"

* * *

><p>The train slowed down and came to a stop, people pushed and jostled each other toward the door leading outside. Eren and Armin joined the crowd and stepped out into the chilly night air onto the tiny, dark platform. Armin shivered and wrapped his cloak more tightly around himself. A lamp came bobbing through the throng of students, both Eren and Armin brightened up when they heard a familiar voice coming their way. "First years! First years over here," a man's voice made himself heard over the crowd.<p>

"Is that really, Hannes?" Armin said, standing on his tiptoes to get a better look.

The man holding the lamp came nearer, the light illuminating his face. Hannes was a tall, blonde man with a light mustache and he has been a lifelong friend of Eren's family. The boys have known him all their lives and we're always ecstatic to see him whenever he had the time to visit, he was almost like an uncle to them.

"Hannes, it is you!" Eren ran up to the man, Armin not far behind him.

Hannes greeted them with a jovial grin. "I've been wondering when I'd see you two here. How are you boys doing?"

"We're doing just fine, thanks for asking, Hannes," Armin chirped while Eren nodded.

The older man didn't seem satisfied with this answer since he gave them a searching look. "Are you sure about that? A prefect just told me that some first years were causing a ruckus. That wouldn't have been you guys, hm?"

"Not at all, you know us, Hannes, we're well behaved!" Eren exclaimed.

"Save it, Eren, I know you too well by now," Hannes sighed but reached out his hand to ruffle Eren's hair. "Your mother isn't going to be happy about this though."

"Don't remind me..." Eren shook his hand off and frowned.

Hannes turned away from them and called out again, "First years follow me, come on now shake a leg! Follow me!"

When Hannes was absolutely sure he had everybody, he started to move down a steep, narrow path. The group of first years huddled together and hurried to follow him. They turned around a bend in the road and caught their first look at Hogwarts. Some people gasped as they gazed at the vast castle atop a high mountain, its lit windows shining in the night sky.

"Four people to a boat," Hannes told them as he pointed to a bunch of boats sitting in the water by the shore of a great black lake ahead of them.

Eren and Armin got into a boat and were soon joined by Connie and Sasha.

"Everyone is in a boat?" Hannes called out from the boat he had to himself. "All right then let's go - FORWARD!" he shouted. The fleet of boats started moving all at once across the lake. Everyone was silent as they glided across the smooth water. Armin glanced to his side to notice Sasha for the first time. She was munching on a Chocolate Frog and Armin's eyes widened as he put two and two together.

"Hey, aren't those my Chocolate Frogs?" Armin asked her.

Sasha froze in the middle of biting off the frog's head. "...No, I bought these myself," she said with her mouth full of chocolate.

"I'm pretty sure I saw you walking off with them on the train after the fight!"

"I brought them to eat during the show, it's just like eating popcorn during a movie!"

"So you think me getting beat up is entertaining? Weren't you one of those people who was telling Jean to hit me with a chair?" Eren interrupted.

"No, that was Connie, just chill out guys," Sasha said pointing a finger at Connie.

"What?! I would never do such a thing and just to let you know she really did take your Chocolate Frogs!" Connie said quickly, wanting to take the blame off himself.

"I knew it!" Armin said making a grab for them.

"Connie, you traitor!" Sasha gasped and leaned back out of the way quickly making the boat rock violently. "Just let me have one more!" she whined.

"At least let me have the cards back," Armin said sitting back in his seat, not wanting to slip out of the boat.

Before Sasha could do anything the Chocolate Frogs in her hand slipped out of her grasp and jumped into the water to freedom. "Nooo, my precious chocolate babies!" she yelled hurrying to the side of the boat and reaching into the water making the boat go off balance.

All four of them started to panic as they nearly tipped over into the lake. "Stop moving you're going to make us fall in!" Eren shouted clutching the sides of the boat, his knuckles were white from gripping it so hard.

Connie and Armin worked together to pull Sasha back and set the boat straight again. "You idiot, forget about the chocolate for now," Connie scolded her, shaking his head.

"Oi, what's going on back there? Stop fooling around," Hannes yelled at them.

"We're fine now, don't worry," Armin called back as they finally reached the other side of the lake.

The group of first years clambered out of the boats and onto the rocks and pebbles of the underground harbor they had come to. They went up a passage and soon reached the grass in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and huddled around a huge, oak door. As Hannes raised his fist to knock on the door Eren couldn't help feeling the excitement he felt back in his bedroom return. Despite everything that happened to him today, he was finally here. _This was it._

* * *

><p><strong>A.N<strong> - I wrote this chapter out a lot faster than I expected. Kudos to the Guest who got it right that Jean was the one opening the door. Also Eren's been having a terrible day and I've noticed I've had him hit by somebody different in some way each chapter so far. He needs a break and a hug, I swear I do love him he just seems to gravitate people's fists to his face. On another note writing Connie and Sasha is so fun, holy shit.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, have a good day!


	4. Chapter 4

Feast Before the Storm  
><span>

The large, oak door swung open revealing a short, grey haired wizard. He had tired looking eyes behind glasses and a scruffy mustache and beard. To Eren this man looked like he was wise beyond his years. Although he wasn't a very tall man he had a certain air about him that made Eren think this man was not to be taken lightly.

"I'll be handing off these first years to you now, Professor Zackley," said Hannes, giving the man a nod.

"Thank you, Hannes," Professor Zackley said in a deep voice, pulling the door open wider.

The first years filed into the entrance hall, each of them gazing around with fascination. The entrance hall was massive and although the walls were lined with torches, the room still felt unnaturally dark. The ceiling in particular was so high and dark that it seemed like an endless void. The group followed Professor Zackley across the stone floor towards a large door where they could hear many voices murmuring beyond it.

Professor Zackley stopped in front of the door and turned to them, clearing his throat. "Welcome to Hogwarts," he said. "Before we enter the Great Hall, let me explain a few things. You are about to be Sorted into your respective Houses. This is an important ceremony because your House will become like your family here. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend time in your common room." He paused and scanned his eyes across all of their faces. "The four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," he continued. "Each of them has a rich and dignified history and each has created excellent witches and wizards."

At this Eren's eyes flickered over to Mikasa who was standing at the front of the group listening to Professor Zackley's speech. He scowled at the back of her head, remembering the punch she gave him on the train. He unconsciously put a hand to his cheek which still stung slighlty. He couldn't wait to get the Sorting over with; there was no doubt in his mind that he would be in Gryffindor. But now more than ever he wanted to see the look on Mikasa's face when she gets put in Slytherin. Eren smirked to himself as he tuned back into what Professor Zackley was saying.

"Your successes will earn your House points, while breaking any rules will lose your House points," Professor Zackley said giving them a serious look. "At the end of the year, the House with the most points will win the house cup. After the Sorting Ceremony is done the start-of-term banquet will commence."

Eren could hear Sasha start whispering excitedly to Connie behind him but he ignored it.

"Now form a line and follow me," Professor Zackley told them, opening the double doors to the Great Hall.

Eren obediently got into line behind a boy with spiky grey-colored hair who was visibly shaking like a leaf. Armin stood close behind him and Eren looked over his shoulder to give him a comforting smile. Armin looked pale but nonetheless returned the smile weakly.

The first years trailed behind Professor Zackley as they entered the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands of candles hovering in midair above four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. At the top of the hall was another long table where the professors were sitting. Professor Zackly led them up to this table then had them stand in line facing the rest of the students. Hundreds of faces stared back at them, to Eren they seemed like a blur except for the ghosts who easily stood out in the crowd. Eren looked over to his side where Armin was standing; he was staring straight up at the ceiling with an amazed look on his face. Curious, Eren looked up too to find that the ceiling was dark but unlike the Entrance Hall it was dotted with shining stars.

"It's bewitched to mirror what the sky looks like outside, I read that in a book over the summer," Armin whispered to him, noticing Eren was gazing at the ceiling with him.

"Wow," was all Eren could manage to mutter back as Professor Zackley placed a stool in front of the first years.

He put an old, pointed, wizard's hat on top of the stool. The hat was raggedy, torn in some places, and very dirty. The hat twitched and a rip near the brim opened up. The hat began to sing but Eren wasn't listening, he knew by now what the Sorting Hat was going to sing about: the characteristics of the four Houses. He instead took to scanning the faces in the hall lazily. The entire hall burst into applause when the Sorting Hat finished its song and became still once more.

"We just try on the hat? That's boring," Eren heard Connie say a short way down the line. Krista shushed him as Professor Zackley stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name you will come forward to sit on the stool and put on the hat," he said. "Ackerman, Mikasa."

The hall immediately broke into a surge of muttering and whispering as Mikasa calmly strode forward.

"I didn't know Levi had a sister..."

"Another Ackerman? That's it, we're dead."

"I hope she's better than her brother."

"She looks as scary as him too!"

Mikasa sat on the stool and before the hat even touched Mikasa's head it shouted out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Eren's jaw dropped in disbelief. "What?" he hissed as he watched Mikasa with his eyes wide in surprise.

"Looks like she broke the family cycle," Armin said clapping along with the rest of the students.

Eren searched the crowd and found he wasn't alone in his shock as he saw many other students' mouths agape, but the table on the far left exploded with cheers and whistles. Mikasa hopped off the stool and turned her head to look back at Eren for a moment. Her expression was unreadable but there was a hint of a devious smile playing at her lips. Eren glared back at her, the nerve of her to taunt him so openly like that now ticked him off to no end. She turned away from him again and joined the Gryffindor table.

"Arlert, Armin!"

Eren could feel Armin freeze next to him. Eren patted him on the back encouragingly. "You'll be fine," he whispered giving Armin the thumbs up.

Armin gulped then nervously walked over to the stool, putting the hat on his head which went down past his eyes. The hat paused for a moment and then shouted again, "RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left cheered this time and Eren clapped with them. Relieved, Armin took the hat off then went to sit at the Ravenclaw table. A few people even stood up to shake his hand.

"Braus, Sasha!"

The hat sat on Sasha's head for more than a minute, Eren was starting to wonder what was keeping it so long. He could have sworn he heard Sasha argue with the hat about being close to the kitchen.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat finally shouted in a slightly annoyed tone.

The table second from the right started to applaud. Sasha gleefully took off the hat and scurried off to join them.

"Calderon, Daz!"

The boy Eren was standing behind in the line before was called up. He was shaking more than ever now and looked as sick as a dog. Even Professor Zackly looked hesitant to put the hat on his head, he seemed ready to throw up. Daz sat on the stool trembling and waited a moment before –

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.

The boy named Daz hurriedly got off the stool and stumbled on his way to join Sasha at the Hufflepuff table.

"Carolina, Mina!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Diamant, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Jaeger, Eren!"

Eren felt his stomach jolt. "_Here we go,_" he thought as he proudly walked up and sat on the stool. The hat fell over his eyes taking the faces of his fellow students out of his sight. He was now staring at the black inside of the hat.

Soon a small voice in his ear spoke. "Ahh, I see you've got plenty of courage. Very determined too, yes. Fierce determination, you'll do just about anything, won't you? Oh – and you absolutely want to prove yourself, eh? Slytherin would do wonders for you, boy.

Eren's stomach dropped horribly at these words and he clenched his teeth. Everything he said to Mikasa on the train would blow back in his face. No, he wouldn't be able to stand it if he was put in Slytherin now. "_Not Slytherin, please!_" he frantically thought to himself, panicking a little.

"Are you sure? Slytherin would surely bring you to success, boy," said the hat. "Alright then perhaps – GRYFFINDOR!"

Eren let go of the breath he didn't even know he was holding and relaxed as the hat shouted to the hall. The hat was taken off his head and he walked over to the Gryffindor table, grinning widely. He saw Armin smile at him from the Ravenclaw table and he waved. He decided he wouldn't tell Armin about this incident; not even his best friend could know that the hat considered him for Slytherin. Gryffindors all around him were patting him on the back or shaking his hand, greeting him warmly. Eren sat down a short distance away from Mikasa then returned his attention back to the Sorting.

"Kefka, Franz!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Kirstein, Jean!"

Jean confidently strolled up to the stool with a smirk. He even had the nerve to give the awaiting room at large a wink. "_Pompous git_," Eren thought with a scoff as a couple of girls giggled around him. Eren couldn't tell if they were laughing at him or they genuinely thought the gesture was cute. To think anybody would think of Jean as being cute, was a disturbing idea to him.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat suddenly yelled.

The hat was taken off Jean's head and he got off the stool but to Eren's confusion it didn't seem like he liked his results. Did he not want to be in Ravenclaw? To Jean's chagrin he reluctantly joined the Ravenclaw table looking thoroughly dejected and frustrated. The bravado he once had was completely swept out of him. Time went on as more names were called and the line grew smaller. Eren could hear his stomach growling, "_When is this going to be over?"_ he thought, losing more patience by the minute.

"Reiss, Historia!" Professor Zackley proclaimed loudly.

Once again the hall burst into restless murmurs as Krista sat on the stool. Some people craned their necks or stood up to get a better look at her.

"No way, it's the Minister of Magic's daughter!"

"She's so beautiful! She's a goddess!"

"Do you think she will let me meet her dad?"

"Watch what you say to her, she could have her father send you to Azkaban!"

Eren straightened up in his seat and rubbed his eyes. She was the girl on the train trying to stop him and Jean's fight. How did he not notice who she was before? He'd seen her picture plenty of times in the Daily Prophet standing next to her father. The whole hall in that moment appeared to be holding it's breath as everyone anticipated the hat's decision.

"HUFFLEPU-"

The hat's voice was immediately drowned out by the Hufflepuff table breaking out into an uproar of screaming and stomping. A blonde boy with a handsome face and hair styled like a pompadour stood on his chair chanting, "All hail the new Hufflepuff Queen!" Soon after the whole table was chanting along with him, it was clear to Eren that this boy was somewhat of a ringleader. Many boos and jeers came from the Slytherin table but the Hufflepuffs didn't seem to care.

Amongst the commotion an old man sitting at the center of the teacher's table stood up. He was bald with keen golden eyes and a distinguished, grey mustache. He cleared his throat and stood tall as he easily shouted thunderously over all the noise, "ATTEEENTIOON!" All action came to a halt and the Hufflepuffs hurried to return to their seats. People flinched and covered their ears or sat stock still like they were being roared at by a drill sergeant. Eren knew who this man was instantly, he was Headmaster Dot Pixis. He's heard stories that Pixis was a very eccentric man, but cunning and wiser than any other man of his age.

"Thank you," said Professor Pixis graciously smiling at them all. "Please continue, Darius," he nodded at Professor Zackley, returning to his seat.

"Springer, Connie!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Everyone politely clapped, too timid to make much noise after that jarring display.

"Tius, Nac!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Wagner, Thomas!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Soon the final boy was called up, "Zeramuski, Mylius!" who was made a Slytherin. Professor Zackley rolled up his parchment and carried the Sorting Hat away. Pixis got to his feet once more, beaming with joy at them all.

"Welcome to another new year at Hogwarts!" he said. "If you're as hungry as I am right now then I won't say another word. Let's dig in!" he chuckled, patting his stomach and sitting back down. Everybody cheered and some even raised their goblets in celebration. Eren turned back to the table when he heard a sharp gasp to see that the plates in front of them were now piled with food. There was now a wide selection of food to choose from, beef, chicken, sausages, bacon, steaks, baked potatoes, fries, puddings, carrots, rice, peas, gravy, ketchup, all laid out and ready to be eaten.

"How did they do all of this so fast?" Mina stared wide eyed at a large turkey near the center of the table.

"Magic of course, what do you think, idiot!" Nac teased her.

Mina shot him a glare and pouted, reaching for some orange juice. "Oh, shut it, I'm still not talking to you for what you did earlier."

"Come on guys, lighten up a bit, this is a feast after all!" Thomas said scarfing down some pudding.

"Slow down, man. You're getting pudding all over your face," Nac said wrinkling his nose and throwing Thomas a couple of napkins.

Eren snickered while Thomas apologized and cleaned up his face. Eren turned his attention away from their conversation to pile mashed potatoes onto his plate when he realized somebody was sniffing at him near his ear. "What the hell?!" he jumped in his seat and shuffled his chair away from the offender. The person who had been sniffing him was a tall and rather muscular boy with blonde hair parted down the middle. He sported a stubbly mustache and beard, sitting back in his own chair he smirked at Eren.

"I'm sorry about him, Mike here likes to sniff the new first years," a girl with light ginger hair and amber eyes sitting across from Eren said. "You really do need to stop doing that, it's a bad habit," she reprimanded Mike, shaking a finger at him. Mike just shrugged his shoulders and went back to cutting up his steak.

"Uh, I..." Eren didn't quite know what to say, he was too bewildered to gather his thoughts.

"I'm Petra Ral," she said smiling, holding out her hand to him. "Welcome to Gryffindor, I swear we're not all as weird as Mike," she laughed lightly.

"Eren Jaeger," he replied shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

* * *

><p>Mikasa huffed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face as she poked her peas around her plate with a fork. She wasn't really paying attention to anything going on around her. If a ghost were to pass through her right now she probably wouldn't even bat an eye. Mikasa didn't care anymore that she had proven Eren wrong, their disagreement seemed pointless and needlessly trivial now. She watched him converse with Petra for a bit then tore her eyes away to search the Slytherin table for her brother instead. Levi was speaking to Nile and he did not look the least bit pleased. Mikasa averted her eyes quickly when she saw him look in her direction. Mikasa shoveled food into her mouth, trying to pretend like she was too interested in her dinner to notice his burning stare. Nile probably told him about the incident on the train and she already knew she was never going to hear the end of this one. She could practically hear Levi's tirade playing in her head already.<p>

Thankfully, two boys soon came to sit across from Mikasa, effectively blocking her from Levi's view. "Hey, Mikasa, congrats on becoming a Gryffindor!" one of the boy's said.

"Yeah, with you here maybe we'll start winning against Slytherin for once," the other boy said.

"Hello, Eld, Gunther," she replied, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I wouldn't get my hopes up about beating Slytherin just yet though."

These two were some of Levi's few friends, at least the ones he could truly tolerate. Eld and Gunther visited often over the past few summers, usually to play Quidditch together in their large backyard. They let Mikasa practice with them but she never really hung out with them other than that. Eld had blonde hair tied back and folded into a ponytail while Gunther had brown hair pointed up at the back of his head.

"Maybe not this year," Gunther agreed. "But in a year or two you should try and join the Quidditch team."

"I'm going to try-out for one of the Chaser spots this year and Gunther is going to try-out for Beater," Eld said cheerfully clapping Gunther on the back. "You know we've been practicing for this all summer!"

Gunther nodded, "Yup, and what's even better is Mike became the new Gryffindor Captain this year!"

"Don't jump the gun yet, guys," Mike called to them from a short way down the table. "I can't be playing favorites, I need to see your skill first."

"Psh! We'll blow the competition out of the water!" Eld boasted, pointing his fork in Mike's direction. "Just you wait, Mike!"

"Good luck with that, Eld, you're going to have to compete with me!" Petra joined in. "I'm trying out for Chaser too," she said with a playful smile.

"Don't you dare, Petra! That spot is mine!" Eld got up and moved closer to where Petra was sitting.

"I'm not going down without a fight, Jinn," Petra crossed her arms and looked over at Mike. "Isn't that right, Mike?"

Mike contemplated the two for a moment. "Let me get back to you on that one," he said taking a long drink from his goblet to avoid answering. Petra and Eld just returned to arguing without his opinion anyway.

"Well I hope you guys do get on the team, I'll be rooting for you in the stands," Mikasa said to Gunther.

Gunther scratched the back of his head and cracked a wide grin. "Thanks, we need all the luck and encouragement we can get," he laughed.

"Excuse me, but what is Quidditch?" Thomas asked curiously.

"And what do Beaters and Chasers have to do with it? They sound rather sketchy to me," Mina said arching an eyebrow.

"It's a game where they dress someone up in all gold and everybody else chases them down and beats them with broomsticks," Nac said in the straightest face he could manage.

In an instant everybody in the vicinity reacted to his words. Thomas started choking on his food prompting Mikasa to thump him hard on the back. Mike spat out his drink, spraying most of it on Petra who screeched like a banshee. Mina sat staring at Nac blankly, downright appalled. On the other hand Eren, Nac, and Eld were roaring with laughter while Gunther was shaking his head, not amused at all.

"That can't be true, can it?" Mina asked regaining her senses.

Nac wiped tears of mirth out of his eyes as he shakily replied. "You are so gullible, of course it's not true! I'm just joking!"

Mina looked ready to explode at him but Gunther stepped in, clearing his throat. "Quidditch is a wizard sport that is played up in the air on broomsticks. Chasers and Beaters are some of the positions you can play on the teams. It has nothing to do with chasing down people and beating them up," he said curtly. For the rest of the feast the Gryffindors either chatted to each other about Quidditch teams, matches they saw, or tried to keep Thomas up to speed with everything. They were having a great time, Mikasa was starting to feel more at home here than she ever did back at her real house. And for a while she even forgot the huge amount of trouble she was in, for now at least.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Jean wasn't having such a grand time over at the Ravenclaw table. He watched the merry band of Gryffindors with Eren at the very center. He glared daggers at him but of course this went unnoticed. "I should be over there too, not here!" Jean muttered under his breath spitefully. He stabbed his fork into his baked potato like it owed him money.<p>

"Are you... alright?" a boy's voice to his left said timidly. Jean snapped his eyes up, startled to meet the chocolate brown eyes of the boy next to him. The boy in front of him had short parted black hair and his kind face was dotted with freckles. This boy was regarding Jean with such a strong feeling of genuine concern that Jean knew he couldn't just brush him off. Jean quickly scrabbled for words to reassure him.

"I'm fine, I'm just having a bad day is all," Jean said hesitantly.

"I saw you staring at the Gryffindor table, is one of your friends over there?" the boy asked, turning slightly towards Jean.

"No, it's not that at all," Jean said flatly. "I just thought I would have been chosen for Gryffindor. The hat got mad at me and said too many people were changing their minds on what House it chose for them. So it basically just forced me into Ravenclaw like it wanted," he said sighing. He didn't really know why he was explaining all of this to this guy, he didn't even know his name. But it didn't seem to matter since he was listening intently anyway.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," The boy patted him on the shoulder. "But I guarantee you'll like being in Ravenclaw, I'm Marco by the way, Marco Bodt," he gave Jean a bright smile.

"We'll see, and I'm Jean Kirstein," he said smiling back. It was odd, Jean couldn't place his finger on it but something about Marco just naturally made him feel better. His sweet and optimistic nature would have probably made him puke if it was anybody else.

"Don't think that being in Ravenclaw will be a breeze either," a girl's sharp voice cut in, taking the smile off Jean's face. A girl with glasses and messy cheek length blonde hair sneered at Jean disdainfully. "You're a Ravenclaw now, we have a reputation to uphold, and if you lose us points you will not enjoy your time here," she said, her nose held up high in the air.

"Now, Rico, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Marco said trying to reason with her.

"He needs to learn his place fast, and learn it quick," Rico retorted, pushing her glasses farther up her nose. "His whole demeanor screams nothing but trouble. You should keep your distance if you know what's good for you, Marco."

"Rico, that's not-"

"Hey! Who the fuck are you anyway?! Why do you have such a vendetta against me!" Jean snapped, pounding the table with his fists.

"My accusations are built purely on facts, tell them Keiji," Rico said, clearly unaffected by his outburst. She turned her head to a boy with a brown buzzcut and defined cheekbones.

"I saw Nile giving him and two others detention on the train. This one," he pointed at Jean. "Was on the ground fighting another boy," said Keiji giving Jean a serious look. "Nanaba also told me that Nile deducted points from him already."

Jean opened and closed his mouth, like a fish out of water. The fact that this girl had built up such a tight case on him in such a short time astounded him. She even had witnesses and testimonies! This girl would most likely be a fantastic lawyer if she wasn't a witch. He knew there was no way he could explain his way out of this argument. Rico gave him a satisfied smirk which only infuriated him more. Marco didn't say a word, he only watched Jean worriedly out of the corner of his eye.

"So, because of you Ravenclaw is starting off the year in negative points," said Rico, her voice was dripping with contempt. "Rumors have been spreading like wildfire about you, you know?"

"You don't even have the full story!" Jean sputtered. "That guy I was fighting attacked me first, what else was I supposed to do?"

"It's true, my friend did start the fight," Armin, who was sitting nearby, said, coming to Jean's aid. He turned to Jean and said, "I'm really sorry about Eren. He's a bit impulsive but-"

"A self-destructive friend like that is not someone you should continue to associate yourself with," Rico said brusquely. "Or else you will just end up like him." At this Armin shrunk down in his seat. Even though Jean agreed with Rico about this one thing, he still thought she was still out of line; Armin looked like a puppy that had just been kicked.

"That's enough, Rico," a tall boy with blonde hair parted on the left side and striking blue eyes walked up to them. This boy wore a Prefect badge on his robes just like the one Nile had. "I understand your displeasure but there are better times and places to discuss this matter."

"Perhaps, Erwin, but I felt it was needed to address this situation in a more timely fashion," Rico replied stiffly.

"Well, I'm sure, Jean here now has the knowledge not to make the same mistakes again, yes?" Erwin nodded at Jean, watching him carefully.

"Er, yeah, sir- I mean!" Jean didn't know why he called Erwin 'sir', it just felt right. This boy seemed to convey a lot of command just with a glance of his icy blue, calculating eyes. It's like he could see right through him and to be honest it was kind of creepy. The Prefect badge on his chest certainly helped represent the kind of power he had at any rate.

Erwin laughed and grabbed onto Jean's hand, shaking it firmly. "Erwin Smith, 5th year, Prefect, Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and its prized Seeker. I hope you enjoy your time here at Hogwarts, I know I have," he said rapidly with a dazzling smile. Jean was surprised he didn't throw in a wink; this guy was the definition of a model student. Before Jean could even introduce himself properly though, Erwin dropped his hand and started drifting away. "If you have any questions feel free to come to me," he said over his shoulder as he went to sit with some other Ravenclaws farther down the table. As soon as he left Rico made an impatient noise then got up and left as well. She didn't give Jean, Marco or Armin so much as a second glance, leaving them in a state of both awe and uncertainty at what just happened.

Marco rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. "Rico isn't always like that. She can be a handful and pretty hard to warm up to but she means well. I'm sorry you had to meet her like that, Jean."

"I don't want to warm up to her, in fact I want her to stay as far away from me as possible," Jean retorted heatedly. "Same thing goes for your friend," he told Armin who now took up Rico's empty seat.

"Again I apologize for Eren, I hope we can just put this all behind us," Armin said.

"I agree, let's get back to dinner, shall we? Pass me those rolls would you?" Marco asked Armin, gesturing to the plate at his side.

Armin handed the plate over and the three of them continued to chat and get to know each other throughout the rest of the feast.

* * *

><p>Tell me again, Nile," Levi said in a monotone voice, his eyes not leaving the Gryffindor table for a second. "What was the name of the boy my sister had trouble with?"<p>

Nile sighed and drummed his fingers on the table repeatedly, his head in his hand. "I believe the one she had over her shoulder was named Eren Jaeger."

Levi inclined his head slightly, looking thoughtful. "And what did he look like?" his scowl becoming more pronounced with each second.

"I don't know, uh, brunette, green eyes?" Nile said exasperatedly. "What are you going to do with this information anyway? You better not do anything to harm that boy, Levi."

"What I do is none of your business," Levi said finally turning to look at Nile. "Now tell me, is that him?" he asked pointing directly at Eren.

"Yes, but if you dare lay a finger on him I'll put you in detention myself! I'm a Prefect now and-" Nile started to rant.

"I don't give a crap if you're a Prefect now. Why don't you go stuff that filthy mouth of yours with some food and shut up?" Levi replied shortly.

Outraged, Nile opened his mouth to say something but stopped as people around them just shook their heads in warning. Nile glared at Levi for a second who seemed mildly amused, at least as far as he could tell. "Whatever, just you wait, Levi," Nile grumbled, getting up from his seat and shuffling away. Levi watched him go before turning his attention back to the Gryffindor table, his eyes trained more specifically on Eren who was laughing at a joke that had just been said.

"It's a shame I might have to wipe that smile off his face," Levi muttered, picking up a knife and returning to his dinner.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N-<strong> This chapter took a longer time to come to me than the others. I really don't like some parts but if you guys enjoy it, that's fine with me. I know there are also a lot of characters to keep track of but they won't always be in the story. There's also still a lot more characters to be introduced, oh God.

Thomas, Nac, Mina, and Mylius were the four first years on the train that Eren was listening to if you didn't make that connection.

I took a lot of time thinking up which Houses everyone should be in and you might not agree with my choices but there are certain factors I put into play during this. Like for instance the hat wanted Sasha in Gryffindor but she demanded to be in a House near the kitchen instead. So voila! Hufflepuff Sasha. Also keep in mind I had to keep all four Houses balanced with the number of characters; I admit some were just dropped in there. I do have good reasoning behind most of them though.

If you'd like to know or want me to clarify what year a certain character is in or what House they're in just ask! I hope you have a nice day!


	5. Chapter 5

Heed My Warning  
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"Stay with me, first years! Watch your step the staircases move on their own!" a Gryffindor Prefect called as he guided the group of drowsy, first year Gryffindors up through the castle. "The common room isn't too far now, almost there. Don't fall behind."

"That picture just waved at me, am I going mad?" Thomas asked in disbelief as they passed a painting of a very jolly wizard.

"I'm going to go mad if you don't shut it. You haven't stopped talking since the feast ended," Nac groaned beside him.

"Pictures in the wizarding world move," Mikasa answered groggily.

"Alright you can all quit complaining, we're here," the Prefect announced making the group come to a halt. At the end of the corridor they were in there was a portrait hung up of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" the lady in the painting asked.

"Crinus Muto," the Prefect answered back. The portrait swung forward, revealing a round hole in the wall. They all clambered forward and entered the Gryffindor common room. The room was full of squashy armchairs, tables, and a large fireplace that dominated one wall. The walls are decorated with scarlet tapestries that depict witches and wizards, but also various animals. The Prefect directed the boys through a door to their dormitory and the girls through another. Eren, Thomas, Nac, and two other boys climbed a spiral staircase together – or at least tried.

Halfway up the tower, Thomas collapsed on the steps and refused to get up. "I can't go on, just leave me here! I shouldn't have had that extra slice of cake!" He rolled onto his back as the two other boys stepped over him and continued up the stairs. This left Eren and Nac to reluctantly look after him.

"For fuck's sake, we're literally right there, Thomas!" Nac stomped his foot impatiently. "And what's with those guys? They didn't even think to help at all, who are they anyway?"

"Probably the ones we'll be sharing our dormitory with," Eren muttered, bending down to grab Thomas' arm and hoisting him back up. "Help me out here, Nac, grab his other arm," he said slinging Thomas' arm around his shoulders.

"He can use his legs I don't see why we're helping him," Nac replied, his eyebrows furrowed. Nac however complied anyway and slung Thomas' other arm over his shoulders. "You owe me one for this, you big drama queen," he grunted.

"Thanks guys, you two are nicer than you let on," Thomas said a bit dreamily. His eyes were lidded and his head was lolling from one side to the other as they ascended the stairs once more. Nac rolled his eyes while Eren clicked his tongue.

"Thomas, if you don't pick up your damn feet and at least try to walk, we're going to drop you right here and let you sleep on the stairs for the night," Eren said, raising his voice. At once Thomas straightened up and started actually helping to get up the stairs.

"Sheesh, I take it back you two are grumpy as hell," he said. Soon they reached their dormitory door and entered. Eren and Nac immediately let go of Thomas and he stumbled forward into the room. He regained his balance before he could fall to the ground.

"Could have given me a little warning," said Thomas, feeling his way in the dark towards his bed.

The two boys they were with were already in their four-posters beds. The dark velvet curtains on them were drawn closed, concealing them from view. The three of them in silence took off their robes and put on their pajamas then fell into their respective beds.

As Eren laid his head down on his pillow and pulled his sheets toward him he heard Nac from across the room start talking. "I pray to God you aren't a snorer, Thomas," he punched his pillow into the right shape and laid down.

"I'm not, at least I don't think so, anyway good night, Nac, you too, Eren," Thomas said cheerfully from the bed to Eren's left.

Nac didn't answer he seemed to have already fallen asleep. "Good night, Thomas," Eren mumbled before rolling over onto his side. However, before he could drift off to sleep the silence in the room was broken by a loud snore. "God damn it, Thomas..."

* * *

><p>The next morning Armin stood in front of a mirror in the corner of his Ravenclaw dormitory. Jean and the other three boys in the room were either still fast asleep or just groggily getting up. Armin on the other hand was wide awake and bouncing on the balls of his feet as he fixed his blue and bronze tie and put on his robes. He was ready to seize the day as he left the room with a new spring in his step. He carefully walked down the stairs in order to not wake anybody up in the other dormitories and entered the common room. It was a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with blue and bronze curtains, and a domed ceiling painted with stars. The room was furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases; and by the door leading up to the dormitories stood a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw made of brilliant white marble.<p>

Armin left the common room and headed downstairs to breakfast, it didn't take much time at all to reach the Entrance Hall since he memorized the path from the night before. There weren't a lot of people around since it was still very early in the morning. He slowed down however on the grand staircase leading to the Entrance Hall when he spotted Mikasa and Levi near the entrance to the dungeons. They both looked displeased with each other and talked in hushed, angry tones. Armin deduced the boy Mikasa was talking to was the Slytherin brother she had mentioned, they were probably arguing about what had happened. Walking a bit closer, Armin tried to catch what they were saying without seeming too suspicious.

"I knew something like this was going to happen," Levi scowled at Mikasa. "The old man is going to be so far up my ass for this. I won't be able to shit in peace for weeks," Mikasa kept silent, cautiously watching him as he spoke. Levi held up his hand and balled it into a fist except for his index finger and looked her directly in the eyes. "One, leave the beat downs to me from now on," he then put up another finger. "And two I'll be having a nice chat with that Jaeger kid."

"No, don't, you'll only end up causing more trouble," Mikasa said quickly. A look of genuine worry flitted across her face. "It's over, there's nothing to worry about," she insisted. Armin didn't like this at all, if anything made the calm and reserved, Mikasa, worried it was definitely not a good sign.

"I'm just going to teach him a lesson, that's all," said Levi coldly. This sentence struck Armin with a sense of unease and he almost stopped in his tracks, he needed to warn Eren. Even if Levi wasn't very tall he made up for it in his menacing presence and one look from his stormy eyes could probably make a grown man wet himself. Not wanting to get caught listening in anymore Armin hurried away from the two of them and entered the Great Hall. He bypassed the Ravenclaw table and sat down at the nearly empty Gryffindor table to wait for Eren.

The Gryffindors already at the table or just filing into the Great Hall paid Armin no mind at all and if they did they didn't say anything. A couple minutes passed and Mikasa entered the Great Hall. She took a couple of steps towards the Ravenclaw table, scanning it briefly. Seeing that who she was looking for was not there she turned to the Gryffindor table then locked eyes with Armin. Immediately, she started walking towards him instead and sat down next to him.

For a moment she didn't say anything but Armin knew she was on the verge of speaking. He waited patiently as she gathered her thoughts. "For the record," Mikasa began. "I don't hate Eren... anymore."

"Understood." Armin nodded for her to continue.

"But my brother is a whole different story. There's nothing I can do about him," Mikasa turned to look at Armin. "You're Eren's best friend and he's more likely to listen to you, so could you please just warn him for me?"

"Okay, but what exactly do I warn him about? What does your brother plan on doing?" Armin frowned. It had only been a day and Eren is already being headhunted, funny thing is Armin wasn't the least bit surprised. Not that he still didn't worry about the safety of his friend though.

"I have no idea, I wish I knew," Mikasa said lowly, staring at the doors to the Great Hall. More students were starting to flood in, amongst the crowd was Eren, his hair was messy like he hadn't bothered to fix his hair before coming down. "I should go now," Mikasa stood up.

"Wait you don't have to go," Armin reached out for her hand but she pulled it away and shook her head.

"He wouldn't want me around," she said glancing at Eren who was making his way over. "Thanks for the offer though," she said giving him a sad smile before walking away.

Armin didn't have time to say something back as Eren plopped himself down in the chair that Mikasa had just left.

"Morning, Armin," he yawned and grabbed a plate of eggs and pulled it towards him. "The beds here are amazing but Thomas kept me up half the night snoring like a bear."

"Aha, yeah, who is Thomas? Wait, nevermind I don't need to know right now," Armin said scratching the side of his face. How was he going to approach Eren with the warning he got from Mikasa? He didn't seem to be in the right mood at the moment. He decided to just wing it and hope for the best. "Eren, we need to talk about something," Armin tentatively pressed on.

"Oh my God, are you breaking up with me? Is our friendship over? I promise I'll be a better friend just take me back!" Eren dramatically slumped over the table, his fake sobbing ruined by the fact he couldn't stop laughing.

"W-what? No, focus, Eren! This is serious," Armin lightly slapped his arm and choked back a laugh. Eren straightened up, took a bite out of a sausage and gestured with his hand for Armin to go on with what he had to say. "Listen, at the feast yesterday, I heard Ravenclaws saying there have been rumors already circulating about you. They don't sound good at all and it's attracting unnecessary attention. I thought when we got to Hogwarts we wouldn't be social pariahs anymore!"

"How are we social pie... whatevers? Maybe that's all in your head, Armin, calm down and have some toast or something," Eren then dumped a stack of toast in front of Armin. Growing anxious, Armin pushed the toast aside, Eren wasn't taking this seriously at all. Just then a great rustling noise was heard overhead and they both looked up to see hundreds of owls fly into the Great Hall, all carrying envelopes and packages of varying sizes.

Not trying to be distracted now, Armin took in a deep breath and turned back to Eren. "Haven't you noticed that people have been gawking over here at us or really _you _this whole time?"

"They have?" Eren lifted his head up and gazed around the room. He found that Armin was indeed correct, people _were_ not so secretly peeking at them. When Eren looked at any of them they would hurriedly look away or pretend they weren't just staring at him. Some were even pointing and whispering to their friends from behind their hands. "...Actually I might have noticed some of this the very moment I left my dormitory earlier."

"You see, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Someone is out to get yo-"

"Armin, look," Eren suddenly croaked out. In front of Eren was a dark brown owl holding a scarlet letter in it's beak that was billowing smoke from the corners. "It's from my mom, s-she sent me a Howler! What do I do?!" Eren's voice shook in fear.

"Grab it or it's going to blow!" Armin said very alarmed, his voice going up higher in pitch.

"I'm not touching it you get it!" said Eren, putting his hands over his ears already. With a shaking hand Armin reached for the envelope. When he removed it from the owl's beak it immediately flew off, it seemed to know exactly what was about to happen. The letter was warm and getting hotter the longer Armin held it, no doubt it would open up on it's own soon.

"This isn't my letter I'm not going to open it, Eren," said Armin, sliding it towards him.

"Hell no, I'm not opening it either, I can't _believe_ she sent me a Howler!" Eren slid it back to him shaking his head vigorously.

"You have to, it's going to catch fire if we don't!" Armin swatted it away. Without warning in midair the letter burst into flames making both of them jump. The sound of Carla's voice shouting soon filled the room and halted the early morning hum of noise. Armin slid down in his chair, his face red, while Eren stared mortified with his mouth hanging open.

"YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE YOUNG MAN! I CAN'T LEAVE YOU FOR TWO SECONDS WITHOUT YOU MESSING SOMETHING UP! I HAVE ASKED YOU MANY TIMES NOT TO CAUSE TROUBLE AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO? WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER HEARS ABOUT THIS, EREN! YOU ARE IN FOR IT NOW, THEY WILL HAVE TO CART ME OFF TO AZKABAN BEFORE I'M DONE WITH YOU! FORGET ABOUT THAT NEW BROOMSTICK YOU'VE BEEN ASKING FO-"

Without thinking Eren picked up the burning remains of the letter, hissing slightly at the flames licking at his hands. He then forcefully shoved it into a pitcher of milk, drowning it. His mother's screams were now concealed by the gurgling of the milk but the damage had already been done. People all around them were either laughing at his misfortune or visibly displeased at the commotion he had just caused. Shortly after the milk stopped gurgling and Eren slumped back down in his chair, his face burning with embarrassment.

"Settle down, nothing to see here, get on with your breakfasts!" Hannes voice came up from behind the two boys. The rest of the students did as they were told and Hannes crouched down to Eren and Armin's level. "I told you your mom wasn't going to be happy," Hannes held back a smile as he patted Eren on the top of his head. "She's a bit louder than I remember though, nearly blew my eardrums out," he said rubbing his ears.

"My life is over, please be merciful and kill me, Hannes," Eren groaned.

"Aw, c'mon Eren, in about a week or two they'll forget all about you, it's not the end of the world," Hannes squeezed his shoulder. "But maybe you should leave early," he glanced around furtively. "And you should get back to the Ravenclaw table so you can get your schedule from Professor Zackley," he told Armin.

"Right," Armin mumbled, getting up and heading over to the Ravenclaw table.

Tugging on Eren's robes to get him to stand up Hannes led the downtrodden boy out of the Great Hall. Noticing Eren was dragging his feet behind him, his head hung low, Hannes slowed down and took his hand. He placed a piece of parchment into his curled up hands. Eren looked up at him and quirked a brow. "What is this?" he asked in a low voice.

"It's your schedule, go straight to your first class, take a breather while everyone is still at breakfast," Hannes gave him an encouraging grin.

"You aren't coming with me?" Eren said a bit disappointed.

"I still have to hand out the other Gryffindor schedules, but you can visit me in my office anytime," Hannes began to walk back towards the Great Hall leaving Eren standing alone in the hallway. "Try to have a nice day, don't let this one setback get you down, Eren!" he called back to him as his figure disappeared around a corner.

"Nice day my ass," Eren muttered, squinting down at the parchment. "Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts..." he trailed off as he scanned the paper. "Wait, he didn't even tell me where any of these classes are!" he shouted out loud to himself.

* * *

><p>Eren wandered up and down the corridors for half an hour and found neither his class nor somebody to ask for directions. He got more and more frustrated as time went on and was starting to think about giving up and going back to his dormitory to sleep this horrible day away. Even sliding panels in the walls that appeared to be shortcuts only got him more lost than before. "<em>What was the point of all this<em>?" he wondered angrily. "_Nothing in this castle makes any sense!_"

He walked up yet another long staircase, checking his schedule again like it would somehow miraculously show him the way this time. He wasn't paying attention properly when his leg quickly and painfully sunk into a trick step halfway up the stairs. "Argh! Shit, not now," he growled as he fruitlessly tried to free himself. Eren felt just about ready to scream in frustration. There was nobody immediately around to see him like this, that was both a blessing and a curse. Nobody was around to help him out but at least nobody would laugh at him. Or so he thought.

"Hey, newbie! Looks like you've got yourself into quite the predicament, huh?" a girl's voice assaulted his ears out of nowhere. Two pairs of footsteps were coming up from behind him. He tried to twist around to see who was speaking to him but his stuck leg wouldn't allow it. "Don't you know some of these steps are fake? You need to be more careful."

"Yes, I knew that I just wasn't looking where I was going. Could you help me out please?" Eren said trying to not lose his patience with his soon-to-be saviors.

The two people stepped around him and stood on the steps in front of him. It was a girl and a boy both wearing Ravenclaw ties just like Armin's. The girl wore glasses and had messy dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, and was currently grinning down at him like a madwoman. To complete her look she had her wand tucked behind her right ear. On the other hand the boy with her had an impassive face as he stared down at Eren. He was perfectly ordinary with his light brown hair and eyes. "I don't know, you seem pretty jammed there. We might have to lose the leg," the girl rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"I know the perfect Severing Charm for that," the boy replied nonchalantly taking his wand out.

"No, just pick me up! We don't have to cut my leg off!" Eren said quickly, eyes wide in terror. The two strangers gave each other a look before both cracking up with laughter. Eren was perplexed and half ready to give these two a good kick if he wasn't so trapped.

"Relax, we'll help you out of there, kid," the girl smiled at him and took hold of one of his arms. The boy did the same with his other arm and together they heaved Eren back out of the trick step. Once they made sure Eren was secure on one of the higher steps the girl introduced the both of them. "I'm Hanji Zoe and this is my friend, Moblit Berner," she pointed at herself then to the boy standing beside her who waved nonchalantly.

"Eren Jaeger, thanks for helping me out of there."

"Aw, it was nothing at all," Hanji waved her hand through the air. "Say, you just said your name was Eren Jaeger right? Aren't you the one that got the Howler at breakfast?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Eren's face immediately dropped and he turned around to start walking up the stairs again. "No, you must have got the wrong guy."

To his dismay this did not deter Hanji and Moblit as they continued to follow him. Hanji came up beside him and threw her arm around his shoulders, pinning him tightly to her side. Moblit took his other side and stayed close, effectively blocking any chances of Eren making a run for it. "Hold on now, we just want to talk you," Hanji tried to reassure him.

"I would love to stay and chat with you guys but I really need to find my class," Eren insisted trying to loosen Hanji's iron-like grip.

"We can help you with that! Give Moblit your schedule and we can walk you there."

Seeing no way out of this Eren reluctantly handed his schedule over to Moblit and then the three of them began walking down a brightly lit corridor. Now that Hanji was sure he wasn't going to leave she let go of him.

"So, you're Eren Jaeger, huh? You're the talk of the town, my friend!" Hanji said enthusiastically, walking in front of him but not facing where she was going.

"It was just a Howler, I bet a load of people have been sent a Howler before!" Eren snapped.

"That's not exactly why people have been talking about you," Moblit answered. "And Hanji please watch where you're going," he warned her before pulling her out of the way of a ghost that was floating by.

Not phased at all, Hanji kept on talking. "You and two other first years have set both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw back in the House Cup this year. They are definitely not happy about that you might be congratulated by Slytherins though. And don't forget people have heard all about your little tussle on the train with a certain Ms. Ackerman. Not a very wise choice, mind you! Everyone is saying that Levi is coming after you now. I'm just telling you because you're new but you should really watch your back wherever you go, Eren. Don't travel around the castle alone."

"Wait a minute, who the hell is this, Levi? Why should I be afraid of him?" Eren wasn't buying into any of this. He bet he could take on this Levi guy if he dared show up.

Both Hanji and Moblit abruptly stopped dead in their tracks and gave Eren both dark and slightly horrified looks. Seeing their expressions Eren backed up apprehensively, the mood whiplash started to make Eren regret his words.

"Oh, you poor soul... You don't ever want to piss off Levi Ackerman. He's a real shorty so he's hard to find in a crowd. You might even mistake him for a goblin at first. But once you see him coming for you it's too late!" said Hanji shuddering a little. Eren couldn't believe his ears. Was this guy some sort of human shark? Was Hanji just making all this up to scare him? "I'm not sure, don't hold me to this but the last kid he had on his hit list got sent to St. Mungo's for spell damage and never came back," she said in an ominous voice.

"T-this has to be a joke," Eren shook his head slowly, disbelief written all over his face. "If he sent a kid to St. Mungo's why would they let him back into Hogwarts?"

"Who knows?" Hanji shrugged. "Surprisingly a good number of the professors actually like him. He's really not that bad once you get to know him, in his own rude and antisocial way, he's quirky. He's one of our friends too actually."

"So _why_ don't you tell him not to maim me?" Eren looked back and forth between Hanji and Moblit almost pleadingly.

Moblit cleared his throat, stepped forward and placed both of his hands on either side of Eren's shoulders. "I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible. You. _Fucked. _Up. There's nothing we can do for you now. By the way here's your class, we'll be going now," he pointed Eren to a door to their right and then started walking off with Hanji down the corridor. Eren stood there shocked, he wasn't expecting the quiet Moblit to be so blunt. He would have felt much better if that had come from Hanji instead.

Finding his voice again Eren shouted indignantly at them before they went around the corner. "You can't just leave me like this! You've got to help me!"

"You're a good kid, Eren. We hope you survive, Godspeed soldier!" Hanji yelled back, twirling around and saluting him before she and Moblit turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Eren stood in that same spot for a minute, soon the sound of thundering footsteps, most likely the other students coming from breakfast reached the empty corridor he was in. Remembering Hanji's words about Levi not being easily detected in a crowd, Eren hastily opened the door to his classroom and stepped inside, shutting the door with a snap.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N- <strong>Hmm, sorry this took so long to write, midterms came up and I needed to focus. Anyways I'd like to say that I really appreciate the reviews I get and any that I receive in the future. Also don't get discouraged if I don't respond or acknowledge your reviews, I might have forgotten to reply or just don't know what to say.

Hanji and Moblit though, what a pair. Moblit is so underrated as a character by the way, I love him. That's all from me for now so have a nice day I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Ugh, and Omega Ruby has taken over my life...


	6. Chapter 6

Pride  
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Shuffling his way through the room, Eren gingerly examined his surroundings. If Hanji and Moblit had led him to the right place, this was the Charms classroom. The classroom had three rows of desks, all facing the teacher's desk, behind which sits a large upholstered chair with a high back. Two blackboards stood behind the teacher's desk, and behind them was a small shelf filled with books and other assorted objects messily piled on top of it. The only thing that seemed out of place in the room was a lone framed picture on the wall of a majestic white unicorn grazing in a forest. Disregarding this, Eren took a seat in the back row towards the corner of the room; after what happened at breakfast the last thing he wanted to do was endure the stares of his fellow classmates. He set his backpack down, leaned forward, and rested his head on his arms.

Not too long after, the door swung open once more and little by little, the rest of the class filed in and took their seats. Eren only looked up when he felt someone take the seat next to him and, to his relief, it was Armin.

"Good to see you found the class just fine, I have to admit I had a little trouble finding it myself," Armin said while unpacking his books, parchment, and quills. He set them all atop his desk neatly then turned his attention on Eren.

"Believe me Armin, it wasn't exactly a piece of cake. I had help from these two weird upperclassmen," Eren huffed, leaning back in his chair, digging his hands firmly into his pockets.

"How weird were they?"

"You don't even want to know, trust me. The worst part was getting my leg stuck in one of the trick steps on the staircase. Don't you dare laugh, Armin," he warned, shooting a glare his way. Armin covered his mouth with his hand to hide the smile creeping onto his face as the teacher walked into the room.

"Settle down everyone! Take your seats," the man ordered calmly as he came to stand in front of his desk. The professor was a man of average height and he had a welcoming face with a mustache and a beard around his jawline. Instead of a pointed wizard's hat he wore a white bandana on his head but you could still see light brown hair poking out along the sides and back. When everyone had taken their seats and quieted down he began to introduce himself.

"Good morning everyone I'm Professor Ness, the Head of Hufflepuff House and I teach the study of Charms. Charms is an integral class and subject here at Hogwarts and mastering the science of charmwork is essential to performing the greater part of magic. So please do not take it lightly and try not to fool around in my class." He flicked his wand swiftly causing Hannah in the first row to squeak in fright as the note she was passing to Franz, zoomed out of her hands. The note landed in his outstretched hand and he threw it away, giving Hannah a quick smile. This bit of spell work wasn't much but it certainly now had everyone at the edges of their seats eager for more.

Professor Ness didn't miss a beat, he continued to walk back and forth across the front of the room as he spoke. "I can see you're all excited to get to work! Let's get down to business then, shall we? Today we will be learning the Levitation Charm. Before we start though does anybody have a question they want to ask?"

Half the class shot their arms into the air at once, all of them shouting out questions at Professor Ness who quickly realized that he made a mistake.

"What was that thing you just did with the paper, can you do it again?"

"Is this going to be a hard class? I don't think I'm ready."

"Why are you wearing a bandana on your head?"

Trying to keep up, Professor Ness answered the questions quickly. "I just used the Summoning Charm, you will learn about it when you're fourth years." A couple of people groaned at this news, including Eren. "Don't worry you will all have ample time to learn everything, also I will hold extra lessons if you are struggling."

"You're in luck, Connie, looks like an idiot like you can still pass this class," Jean teased from the back row, Connie who was sitting in front of him turned around and, after making sure Ness wasn't watching, flipped him the finger.

"I enjoy wearing bandanas, is that so wrong?" Professor Ness said defensively, he then reached up to rub his head a tad uncomfortably. Nobody answered back so he let it go. "Right, anymore questions?"

Milius raised his hand and pointed at the unicorn picture on the wall. "Why do you have that there? Don't you think it's a bit out of place in a Charms classroom?" he said with a hint of arrogance lacing his voice.

"Hey, look Jean, it's your cousin!" Connie said giving him a shit-eating grin.

"Shut your mouth, potato head, I saw Sasha eat your whole family last night at the feast!" Jean shot back.

Sasha immediately jumped up and looked around the room wildly. "Did someone say potato? If you've got one please donate it to me, I'm hungry!"

"We all _just_ had breakfast how can you still be hungry?" Mina asked incredulously.

"Sasha, you could have asked me for some food I would have given up some of my bacon," Krista said worriedly from beside Sasha, pulling her back down into her seat.

The rest of the class soon broke out into renewed conversations and Professor Ness struggled to keep everyone under control. Eren almost felt bad for the guy; it had been fifteen or twenty minutes since the first bell rang and they still hadn't even gotten to the lesson yet. To his side, Armin was biting his lip and twisting up his quill in his hands as he watched Professor Ness try to calm the class down. Eren knew that Armin was probably more willing than anybody else in the room to begin learning magic, of course he looked like he was in turmoil over all the interruptions going on.

Once Ness had the class quiet again he went over to the unicorn picture on the wall, touching the frame gently. "When I was a young boy my dream was for one day to ride one of these beautiful creatures. That day has not come yet but I have not given up hope. I came close one time, deep in the Forbidden Forest with a graceful mare drinking water from a lake. To my dismay I scared it away when I stepped on a fallen branch..." Professor Ness finished his monologue while staring creepily and fondly caressing the picture.

"Oh, great, we've got a nutter for a teacher," Nac muttered under his breath.

The rest of the class was stunned silent and Ness soon realized this and awkwardly coughed, returning to the lesson at hand. He rubbed his hands together and nervously pressed on. "Five points to whoever gets this question right. We're learning the Levitation Charm but what is the incantation for it, does anybody know?"

Armin's hand immediately shot up into the air.

"Yes, you in the back!" Ness pointed at Armin. "Go on then."

"Wingardium Leviosa, sir!" Armin said excitedly, a smile spreading across his face. Eren nodded next to Armin, no doubt Armin was going to be ahead of the rest today. He'd been practicing this very spell half the summer.

"Good, good, five points to Ravenclaw! Five more points if someone else can tell me what this spell does?"

Mikasa raised her hand this time and answered in a monotone voice. "It's used to make objects fly or levitate."

"Fantastic, five points for Gryffindor. Thank you Miss Ackerman and Mr Arlert." A couple of the other Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in the room looked back at the both of them encouragingly. Certainly with these two around they would regain the points they've lost in no time. A couple of minutes later Professor Ness had Dazz handing out the feathers they would be levitating across the room and the class went to work. "Remember guys, swish and flick!" Professor Ness began walking around the class observing them all as they tried to get their feathers to float.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_," Eren waved his wand at his feather but it didn't move at all. "How come it's not working?"

"Are you sure you're saying it right?" Armin said, his eyes focused on his feather which was halfheartedly drifting then falling back onto his desk. He seemed a bit put out that the spell wasn't working as well as it was before.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Eren said frustratedly. He peered over at Armin's feather. "Maybe you can only do it when you need to nail someone in the head with a rock."

"I thought we were never going to speak of that again, thank you very much!"

Eren chuckled lightly and turned away to see how much luck other people were having. To his satisfaction not many other people appeared to be having any more luck doing the spell than him. He watched as Dazz jabbed his wand at his own feather, causing it to burst into flames. Frantically he tried to put it out with his hat. Professor Ness hurried over to the scene and put the fire out immediately and gave Dazz a new feather in no time.

Once that incident was over, Eren stole a glance at Mikasa who was having her own feather sail around the room without a care. Her eyes were following the path of her feather as it rounded it's third lap; she almost looked bored. When it whizzed over Eren and Armin's heads she found Eren staring at her and he quickly averted his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck feeling embarrassed, he quickly turned back to his own feather. He couldn't help wondering why she was so far ahead of the rest of them already. It irked him but also drove him to work harder, by the end of class he had managed to get his feather off the desk and have it float lazily around in front of him.

The class gathered their things and hustled out of the room, Professor Ness giving them a cheery farewell on the way out. The first years were buzzing with conversation having finished their very first class at Hogwarts. Most of them couldn't wait for the next one as they all joined the steady stream of students in the corridor.

* * *

><p>At lunch time Eren stood alone in the Entrance Hall near the stairs to the dungeons, having just finished his first lesson in Potions with Professor Eibringer. A rude man with medium-length messy brown hair and light stubble, he certainly did not take his job seriously. He gave vague instructions on how to brew the cure for boils and told them all to promise if they got poisoned it wasn't his fault. Eren would have had a better time if he hadn't had to split up with Armin; only Gryffindors and Slytherins had Potions together. Also it would have gone better if he didn't have Thomas for a Potions partner, he kept adding in the wrong ingredients prompting them to start over on their concoction. It's not like Eren had much choice anyway, it was either Thomas or Mikasa and he wasn't about to give in on his grudge against her yet.<p>

Eren was lost in his own thoughts, thinking over the events of the day. He wanted to go eat lunch but he waited patiently for Armin to come back from his History of Magic class.

"Hey you!" A girl's voice from nearby jerked Eren out of his thoughts. He looked around but did not see where the voice had come from, everyone kept moving into the Great Hall, ready to chow down. Deciding they must have been talking to somebody else, Eren raked his eyes back up the staircase to see if Armin was coming down yet.

Eren only looked away when he heard footsteps coming up from the dungeon stairs and a cold hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up to see the owner of the hand was a boy who had short grey hair with bangs almost covering his light yellow colored eyes. By his side was a girl with a devious cat-like grin, with large amber eyes and chin length, shaggy, light brown hair. Eren wrinkled his nose when he caught a whiff of the heavy perfume she was wearing causing the boy with her to scowl menacingly at him.

"Is there something you want or are you two just going to keep staring at me?" Eren said impatiently. His eyes narrowed once he saw they were both wearing Slytherin ties.

The girl stepped forward, pushing the boy with her aside gently. She held out her hand to Eren, the false grin plastered on her face never wavering. "Yes, there is something we want out of you. I'm Hitch Deliss, future reporter for the Daily Prophet."

Eren didn't bother to shake her hand and frowned at her. "What do you want?" He demanded. Hitch dropped her hand, pouting while flipping her hair quite sassily.

Dropping the act a little, Hitch stepped closer to Eren and sneered up at him. "Listen first year, I'm the eyes and ears of this whole castle, any gossip or dirt on _anyone_ in this place goes through me. As a future reporter I'm going to need a lot of practice digging up stories, you see? Now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and you're going to answer them or my crony, Boris, here will send you to the Hospital Wing. Are we clear?" she said rapidly and full of venom. Behind her, on cue, Boris cracked his knuckles and glared at Eren.

Not backing down, Eren glared right back at Hitch. "I'm not afraid of you or your lousy, pretty boy manservant. I'm not answering any questions, I'm going to go grab something to eat," Eren snarled at her before turning to leave.

Boris was ready to lunge at him but Hitch stopped him by throwing out her arm in front of him. "Oh, but you sure are afraid of Levi, aren't you?" Hitch hummed icily.

"What?" Eren stopped dead in his tracks and whipped back around.

"That's what I've heard at least. I mean I don't blame you, I know first hand what Levi is capable of. Did you hear the story about how he sent a poor boy to St. Mungo's yet?" Eren gulped hard and nodded. What Hanji said was now confirmed as true, if Hitch really was wired into the system like she claimed she was. "I was just thinking the people might want to hear your side of the story, before, you know, anything happens to you," she said lightly, her sweet smile turning into a wolfish grin. Eren's mind was reeling, he hadn't been thinking about Levi since his chat with Hanji and Moblit this morning, now his fears were coming back in waves. His mouth went completely dry, he opened his mouth to say something but in that moment he was rendered speechless.

"What's going on over here?"

The three of them looked around to see Armin walking towards them. His backpack slung over one shoulder, looking over the scene with suspicion in his eyes.

Hitch looked taken aback and Boris looked to Hitch for instructions but when she didn't give any he just stood there dumbly. "Uh, excuse me but who are you?" Hitch asked sharply.

"This two-bit reporter is trying to weasel answers out of me." Eren said ignoring Hitch. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Hitch who gasped and clutched at her heart like he had just slapped her in the face.

"Why, I never!" Hitch stamped her foot indignantly. "I will have you blackballed you son of a-"

"Hey now, I'm sure I can set up an appointment with my client for you. We can work this out right?" Armin cut in front of Eren, pushing him gently away from Hitch.

"Armin, what are you-" Eren began to speak but Armin shushed him.

"Now we're talking, finally someone with some sense! We should discuss this over lunch, yes?" Hitch smiled at Armin, patting him on the shoulder.

"Of course, of course," Armin nodded, playing along with Hitch's antics. "Well, we will be taking our leave now, we'll talk later!" Armin turned around and grabbed Eren's arm, leading him away from Hitch and Boris quickly.

"Ciao, darlings!" Hitch waved and called out to them in a sing-song voice.

Eren was surprised, he didn't know exactly what just happened but it worked out perfectly. Yet again Armin had saved him from another sticky situation. He really should buy him something nice for all his troubles, he deserved it. Together they walked towards the Great Hall but before they went through the double doors Eren looked back to where Hitch and Boris were.

"He's on the run, get him Boris! Marlow we just want to talk to you!" Hitch and Boris were now hounding a tall boy from Ravenclaw with a bowl cut. The Ravenclaw boy broke into a run up the grand staircase once he saw them coming towards him. People scurried out of the way as the three of them barreled right on up the staircase to the floor above. Eren turned away and followed Armin into the Great Hall. He sure was glad he wasn't that guy.

"So, are you really going to have lunch with her?"

Armin laughed. "Not a chance."

* * *

><p>It was now the evening, classes were over and Armin and Eren were walking up through the castle back to their respective common rooms together. Armin was huffing as they went up yet another staircase, silently cursing the fact that they would have to climb these stairs every day from now on. Eren, on the other hand, was busy griping about how much homework he had gotten on the first day. To him it was an absolute outrage.<p>

"Can you believe it? Professor Zackley gave us three essays to write by Thursday, _three_!" he waited for Armin to go ahead of him on the stairs so he wouldn't lag behind.

"I could help you with your homework, Eren, but I won't do it for you," Armin said, paying no mind to the group of students passing them in the opposite direction.

"Fine, whatever just help me out," Eren said exasperatedly. They stopped in the middle of a corridor that split off in different directions. They had to go their separate ways from there. Instead of saying goodbye and leaving, Armin turned around to face Eren once he caught his breath.

"Eren, I've been thinking about everything that has happened lately," Armin took on a serious and determined look as he gazed at Eren. "I think you should apologize to Mikasa."

"What? _No_!" Eren exclaimed. Eren started shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. "Armin, this really isn't that big of a deal."

"I'm serious, Eren! Just think about all the enemies you've made in such a short time. Mikasa, Jean, Hitch, Levi-" At the sound of Levi's name Eren looked over his shoulder nervously. Assured that Levi wasn't there, he turned back to Armin. "And it's not just them either. I've been hearing people talking behind your back all day, Eren. They're either making fun of you because of the Howler or think you're some self-destructive punk," Armin said, thinking back to what Rico said to him the night before. Eren crossed his arms and opened his mouth to say something but Armin cut him off. "I know that you don't care what they think but, still, you're my best friend and it pains me to see so many people against you right from the start. All of this started with that argument you had with Mikasa on the train so that's why I think apologizing to her is the first step towards making amends. And who knows? Maybe that will help get Levi off your back too." Eren shook his head and turned away from Armin.

"You couldn't _pay me_ to apologize to her," he spat. Armin grabbed his arm and forced him to face him again.

"I know you don't want to hear it but Mikasa is actually a pretty nice person, we were even getting along so well with her before the argument, remember? She's even a Gryffindor now, just like you! There's absolutely no reason why you should still be-"

"I can think of a pretty good reason!" Eren snapped, wrenching his arm away. He then pointed at his cheek which had bruised slightly overnight. "She slugged me in the face! Remember that?"

Armin dropped his hand to his side and gave Eren a piercing look. "Are you sure that's why you're mad or is it because she comes from a Slytherin family?

Eren opened his mouth slighty, taken aback by Armin's question. Why was he mad? The answer seemed simple to him, what was Armin getting at here? Taking a moment to think, Eren chose his next few words carefully. "I'm mad about both of those things, what are you talking about, Armin?"

Armin put his head down, looking at the floor. "What I'm saying is you're not mad about her punching you. Back home you got in fights with the Muggle kids all the time, getting punched in the face is no big deal to you." Armin looked back up at Eren's face. "So it has to be because of your grudge against Slytherin. During your argument you mentioned my parents..."

"Armin."

"Let me finish," Armin held his hand up. "It's true that my parents were killed by former Slytherins... but I just don't hate them like you do. It's true that Slytherins have produced a lot of dark wizards over the years but there have been evil wizards from _every_ House, Eren. But I know there have been just as many great wizards from each of the Houses too." He paused, looking contemplative. "This isn't like back home where it was just you and me. We've finally taken our first real steps into the wizarding world, surrounded by other kids like us for the first time. We're going to be seeing these people for the next few years and there's just so much we can learn from them. Including the Slytherins." Eren rolled his eyes at this. "I'm not asking you to be friends with every Slytherin you meet." Armin pressed on seeing the look in his friend's eyes. "Just try to keep an open mind, okay? Please?"

Eren clenched his fists and looked away, ashamed and angry at himself for not being considerate to Armin's feelings about this before. "I'm sorry, Armin," he muttered.

Armin gave him a sad smile, "No need to apologize, just take it easy."

There was a shuffling of feet nearby and the two of them, quieted down to listen. The sound stopped and Armin looked out of a window at the setting sun. "It's getting late we need to get back to our common rooms or a professor might catch us out here. I'll see you tomorrow, Eren!" Armin waved to Eren over his shoulder as he went down one corridor.

"Goodnight, Armin." Eren called back going down the other. At the end of the corridor Eren reached yet another staircase and was about to take a step onto it when a great, rumbling sound erupted around him and the staircase started moving away. "Great, just my luck."

"Yes, lucky you," A smooth voice said from behind him.

Eren gasped and quickly turned around to see none other than Levi standing right behind him, his cold grey eyes boring a hole right through him. He didn't know exactly what compelled him to do it but Eren's first reaction was to swing his fist right at him. Levi dodged his poorly aimed punch with ease then grabbed Eren by the front of his robes and slammed him against the wall. Eren hit the wall painfully on his side and slid down holding his shoulder.

"Argh! What's your problem, man!" He tried to get back up but Levi immediately punched him hard in the gut. Eren fell forward, coughing and spluttering; that hit had knocked the wind out of him.

"Tch, don't be stupid. What's _my_ problem? You just tried to punch me in the face, smart ass. Not bad though, I've never had anyone try to swing at me before," Levi said tilting his head slightly to the side, glaring down at Eren with contempt. He then bent down, grabbing a fistful of Eren's hair and making him stare up at him. "Remeber this. I'm Levi Ackerman and don't you ever forget that."

Eren's eyes widened, he was finally face to face with him and he wasn't prepared at all. His heart was hammering in his chest. The look in Levi's eyes were dark and emotionless, no light shown in his eyes at all. Unfiltered horror surged through Eren's body and clouded his thoughts of getting away; it was like he was paralyzed and rooted to the spot.

"H-hold on- Levi! I'm sorry about what happened with your sister, just let me go and none of this will happen again!" Eren put his hands up in surrender.

"It sure won't happen again after I'm done with you. Don't worry kid, since you're new, I'll go easy on you. I just need to send out a little message." Without a second thought Levi let go of Eren's hair, stepped back and lifted his leg. Another moment later he swung his foot full force into the side of Eren's face. The kick came so quickly and unexpectedly that he didn't even have time to move out of the way. Eren hit the floor and watched as one of his teeth went flying over the empty space the staircase had left.

"You call that going easy?!" Eren yelled, spitting out blood. His head was already starting to ache from the blow, it was as if Levi had cracked him over the head with a baseball bat.

"I could have done far worse, be thankful I'm not cursing you to shit, Jaeger." Levi said coolly.

Holding his hand over his mouth, Eren slowly got to his feet. "Please, you've done enough, I've learned my lesson." He tried to brush past Levi but he held him back.

"I'm sure you have learned your lesson but I'm not finished with you," Levi shoved Eren towards the edge of the empty space and held him over it. Eren swayed dangerously, his feet barely touching the landing, it was probably a seven story drop from here. "Listen up because I'm only going to say this once. You may think whatever you want about me, but you leave my sister out of your petty hatred against Slytherins."

"How did you-"

"Shut up, I overheard you and your coconut headed friend talking all about it back there in the corridor," Levi barked at him. "So she's a Gryffindor, eh?" he asked, more to himself than to Eren. "She's always been different than me and the old man... It might be too late for me to change but maybe she'll go down the right path... But she can't do that if she's getting into fights with little dirtbags like you." At this moment Levi loosened his grip on Eren a little and Eren fell off the platform a couple of inches. He was now dangling over the stairwell, clutching at Levi's arms for dear life.

"Yes, okay, I promise not to do that anymore just don't drop me! Please, just help me up!" Eren shouted frantically.

Looking satisfied, Levi smirked at him and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "Good and if you don't keep this little promise of ours..." he narrowed his eyes at him. "I'll throw you off the Astronomy Tower next time." Hoisting Eren back up Levi let go of him, the rumbling sound of the staircase returning hitting their eardrums. Levi observed him and grimaced. "You're bleeding all over yourself like a stuck pig, _filthy,_" he spat.

"Whose fault is that now?" Eren ventured sarcastically. Now that the altercation was over and he no longer had to fear for his life he was recovering both the feeling in his brain and legs. Although in Levi's presence he couldn't help shaking still.

Levi snapped his eyes onto him, they flashed as if he was warning him. Eren flinched back when he saw Levi reach into his pocket to withdraw his wand but voices from the staircase above them were coming closer. Both Eren and Levi looked up to the top of the stairs to see two Slytherin boys approaching them. One of them had short blond hair and gold eyes. He was tall with broad shoulders giving him an intimidating presence. The other was slightly taller than the blonde, but more slender. He had short, dark hair and green eyes.

"Oi, Levi, what are you doing here? Who's your friend?" The blonde asked, his eyes rested on Eren's bleeding mouth with concern.

"That's none of your business, Braun." Levi said returning his wand to his pocket and crossing his arms. "The both of you can take your huge asses somewhere else." He said this with so much conviction that the dark haired boy shrunk back behind his friend. Eren could already see beads of sweat rolling down his face.

The blonde placed his hands on his hips not looking intimidated in the slightest. "We don't need another member of the Quidditch team in detention. We can't afford to start practice off two players down especially if one of them is the Captain."

"What? Which one of you brats has got themselves in detention?" Dropping his arms to his sides, Levi looked shocked for the first time tonight.

"Earlier today Annie sent that cocky guy from Hufflepuff- what was his name again, Bertl?" The blonde tipped his head back to his companion.

"I believe his last name is, Bossard," Bertholdt mumbled quietly.

"Yeah, anyway Annie sent his sorry butt to the Hospital Wing for making fun of her nose. He dosen't look too pretty either, I hear he's going to have to stay there for a couple of days." he finished with a disapproving tone.

Levi sighed and brushed his hair back with one of his hands. "She's one of our best Chasers, this is going to set us back. Damn it Oluo, he can never keep his mouth shut even if his life depended on it," Levi muttered more to himself than anything. Eren watched the three of them quietly still nursing his bleeding mouth, feeling left out. He tried to move away and continue to walk up the stairs but Levi halted him. He really did not want to stay here longer than he had to but he reluctantly stopped. "Jaeger, you need to go to the Hospital Wing. Reiner and Bertholdt will accompany you and don't you dare tell the nurse what really happened to you," he ordered them as if he was giving out orders to a bunch of soldiers. "Say you tripped and fell on the stairs and she will have your tooth fixed in no time."

With a flourishing of his robes behind him Levi departed from the scene without another word. Silently the three of them started walking together with Bertholdt in the lead, Reiner however kept pace with Eren. There was an awkward silence between them, none of them wanting to talk about Levi or call attention to Eren's bleeding mouth. The tension was finally broken by a tiny squeaking noise that made Bertholdt suddenly stop dead in his tracks and let out a frightened shriek. Bertholdt took a step back, knocking into Reiner, looking ready to jump out of his own skin.

"Oof! What's the matter with you?" Reiner exclaimed, searching in front of him for the cause of Bertholdt's fright. Curious, Eren too looked forward only to find a dark gray mouse scurrying across the floor. "Get a load of this guy, he may be tall but he's also a big coward," Reiner said to Eren, letting out a booming laugh. Even though it hurt too much to even open his mouth at the moment, Eren found himself laughing with him. There was just something infectious about Reiner's laugh. "It's only a mouse, Bertl!" Reiner shook Bertholdt's shoulders a bit which only made the gentle giant look down with reddening cheeks.

"It surprised me that's all," Bertholdt mumbled as they continued walking together, this time making sure to stick beside Reiner. As they continued on, Eren remembered what Armin said about making more friends than enemies. Even with Slytherins. Levi was every bit as much of a nightmare as he thought but he could tell these two were different. Swallowing his pride, he sighed and started up a conversation.

"So... you guys are on the Quidditch team for Slytherin?"

"Yeah, we're only second years but Levi chose us himself today actually, didn't even need to set up tryouts. Same goes for Annie and Ymir... for some reason." Reiner answered.

"Seriously? You guys are _that_ good?" Eren said, completely shocked. "I would expect a guy like Levi to recruit third years at the least. Not to mention that's more than half the team as rookies. What positions do you two play?"

"Bertholdt's a Chaser and I'm a Beater. I don't know about you but I've got the perfect build for one plus I've got killer arms," Reiner puffed out his chest proudly and started flexing his arms. "No bludgers are going to get past me!"

"Haha, Reiner's definitely a warrior on the field," Bertholdt chimed in. "First years aren't allowed broomsticks but what position would you like to play, Eren?"

Eren knew his answer right away. "I've wanted to be a Seeker ever since my dad took me to go see a England vs. Ireland game when I was little." He smiled to himself, remembering the event with his father fondly. The three of them continued to chat about Quidditch and in no time at all they had reached the Hospital Wing. Eren almost felt sad Reiner and Bertholdt had to leave.

"Well Eren, guess this is goodbye for now," Reiner shook Eren's hand, although he didn't think it was intentional he had a crushing grip that left Eren's hand sore afterwards.

"We'll be seeing you around." Bertholdt said, he noticed Eren trying to shake the pain out of his hand so he gave him a small wave and apologetic smile instead.

"Get a good look at Oluo for me while you're in there," Reiner gave Eren a wink. "I want to have something over on Hitch before she starts snooping around."

"I'll try to sneak a peek," Eren smiled and waved to the two of them as they started walking away. As they turned the corner, Eren heard Bertholdt admonishing Reiner about Oluo's privacy to no avail. Eren opened the door to the Hospital Wing, ready to get this over with and then hop into bed in Gryffindor Tower. This had been one of the longest and most grueling days he'd ever had but somehow he was already feeling better. He barely felt the aching in his head anymore as he stepped inside and shut the door.

* * *

><p>Ah, Quidditch is the quickest way to Eren's magical boy heart. In other news, I don't know I kind of find it difficult writing Levi's character, I mean he's not just poop jokes and shortness all the time. That aside I'd like to hear what your favorite scene or lines so far are, feel free to review about that! Until next time guys, tomorrow is my last day of finals so winter break is around the corner so hopefully I'll be able to do the next chapter quickly. Since I'm not sure if I'll get the next chapter up before Christmas or New Years I'll say happy holidays to you all! See you next time and enjoy the rest of the year while it lasts!<p>

To one of the guests who reviewed - I won't say anything about Eren and Mikasa making up yet just wait and see! Anyway, no, Hanji and Moblit are both Ravenclaws and yes Petra is friends with Levi, I look forward to making them interact in the future honestly. Thanks for liking the story, I've seen so much on tumblr about this stuff but never a story so I decided to make one. I just hope I'm doing both of these fandoms justice.


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